Derailed by injury, Lakshya Sen settles for silver at German Open 2022: Watch

An unruly, untimely blister acted as the main villain at the Men's Singles final between Lakshya Sen and Kunlavut Vitidsarn at the German Open 2022, as the Indian badminton star lost 18-21, 15-21 in the final on Sunday.

Having come into the final of the Super 300 tournament looking to make it his career's 4th BWF title victory, Lakshya Sen needed two medical time-outs against the Thai player and a lot of grit and determination to make it through the match and bag the silver medal.

Sparring off against the Thai sensation, also a 20-year-old like Sen, Lakshya seemed to have trouble just as the World No. 20 from Thailand had his first game point opportunity at 20-18 in the closely-battled first game.

Going off to the sidelines, Lakshya asked for help from the medic as a blister on his foot acted up and needed tending to and was obviously affecting his movement on the court.

With Vitidsarn, a 3-time World Junior champion testing Sen out in long, gruelling rallies, the blister put off the usually lithe and athletic Sen, who had been practically invincible in the tournament so far.

Getting some bandage on at such a crucial point in the match, Sen rejoined the match but Vitidsarn closed out that opening game at the first opportunity he got.

Into the second game, while it was expected of Sen to give a stiffer fight, a 0-3 confident start from the World No. 20 against the World No. 12 didn't really help the cause as Sen, who is usually extremely light on his feet and a treat to watch at the net, was struggling to move well and misfiring his shots.

Eventually, the blister worry came back again in the second game but by then Vitidsarn was in cruise control and determined to win his career's first-ever title at the senior level. He soon went on to do just that, dominating Sen, 21-18, 21-15 in a 57-minute battle.

Sen needs to take heart from the fact that even though he settles for silver here at the German Open 2022, he has defeated Viktor Axelsen in the most dramatic way here and will head to the All England Open with some major confidence in his stride. Only blisters need to stay at bay.

En route to the gold medal clash in Germany, Lakshya staved off the likes of World No. 5 Anthony Ginting in the pre-quarters, a feisty HS Prannoy in the quarters and World No. 1 and Olympic champ Viktor Axelsen in the semis to book his date with Vitidsarn.