Badminton
Lakshya Sen set to enter Top 10 rankings; moves to semifinals at All England Open 2022
Lakshya Sen, after an emphatic victory over Anders Antonsen in the pre-quarters of the All England Open 2022 is set to become the World No. 9, come next week.
Lakshya Sen in action (Source: BAI)
Rising Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen got a much-needed break and a day of rest after his Chinese opponent, Lu Guang Zu, for the quarter-finals gave a walkover and guaranteed Sen's berth in the semi-finals of his debut All England Open.
Lakshya, who has been on a roll, especially in the last few days and has been on a neat giant-killing spree, is also set to become the new World No. 9 when the BWF rankings are updated next week. Currently, Lakshya Sen is the highest-ranked among the Indian men's singles shuttlers at World No. 11, just one spot above Kidambi Srikanth at No. 12.
Sen produced a thriller against third-seeded Dane Anders Antonsen in the pre-quarters of the All England Open 2022 and racked up the necessary points to break into the Top 10, which was his goal for 2022.
READ | "I want to break into Top 10 by year-end," determines Lakshya Sen after India Open quarters win
Having played back-to-back thrillers from last week's German Open and now at the All England Open, Sen's body needed some time off, especially given that his next opponents are some of the most dangerous ones. Sen will be meeting the winner of the clash between reigning All England champ, Lee Zii Jia or lock horns against World No. 2 Kento Momota, and that won't be an easy job at all.
However, Sen can take heart from knowing that he has conquered the likes of World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, World No. 5 Anthony Ginting and now, World No. 3 Anders Antonsen in a quick span of barely two weeks and therefore will be ready to have a go at either Lee Zii Jia or Momota.
On the other hand, the Indian men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty lost out a close encounter against their arch-foes Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon, the World No. 1 duo from Indonesia, losing 24-22, 21-17 to exit from the quarter-finals of the All England Open.
