Indian shuttler and finalist of All England Open Badminton Championship, target army He was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a spirited fight after losing the final to world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the final.
PM Narendra Modi tweeted, “Proud of Lakshya Sen! You have shown remarkable grit and tenacity. You put up a spirited fight. Best wishes for your future endeavours. I am sure you will continue to scale new heights of success.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also lauded Sen’s performance.
Gandhi tweeted, “You are second to none, @lakshya_sen. You have won a billion hearts. Congratulations on a great performance. You have made India proud! My best wishes for your future endeavours.”
In a 53-minute badminton match, Viktor Axelsen defeated Lakshya Sen 21-10, 21-15 at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham. The young Indian was bidding to become only the third person after shutter Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pullela Gopichand (2001) to win the All England Open badminton championship, or simply the All England which is the world’s oldest and most prestigious badminton tournament.
Despite the defeat, it has been a credible performance for Sen, who is still in his early days at elite level badminton. He secured his first World Championship bronze in December, before winning his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open in January and runner-up at the German Open last week.
Having participated in this final, Sen is now only the fifth Indian – after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980 and 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) – to feature in the All England summit clash. For making .
download
The app will get 14 days of unlimited access to Mint Premium absolutely free!