Badminton
Kumamoto Masters: Lakshya Sen upsets Watanabe in final
Lifts second consecutive Super 500 title of the season, moves closer to qualifying for the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou.
Lakshya Sen and Koki Watanabe at the podium. (Photo credit: BWF/Badminton Photo)
India’s Lakshya Sen produced a remarkable comeback to beat home favourite Koki Watanabe in the men’s singles final to win the Kumamoto Masters Japan Open title in Kumamoto, Japan.
After losing the first game, Sen, the world No. 13, bounced back in the next two games to win the contest 13-21, 21-18, 21-14 in an hour and four minutes.
"It feels very good to win a title here and last year I played the semifinals and I'm happy that I could better the results and yeah it's my second title back-to-back so I would love to continue this form ahead," Lakshya Sen said after his final.
In the final game, Sen produced a dominant display to extend his lead to an overall nine points after taking a crucial lead of 11-7. He did not give his opponent a chance to stage a comeback thereafter.
"The sides were also a little bit difficult to play. There was some wind on the stadium so I just kept my confidence up in the second set and played the rallies. First set I think I made some easy lifts so he could smash the shuttle through me but in the second set and third set I was trying to give a good length and also play a bit more attacking," Sen added.
Coming into the final, Lakshya held a 3-2 lead over Watanabe in their career head-to-head, although the Japanese had won their last two meetings.
With this, Sen has moved into a qualifying position for the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou. Eighth seed was 12th in the Race to Finals standings with 64,980 points before this event, and needed to break into the top eight to qualify for the season-ending event.
"That is one thing which we will be fighting for and yes this tournament will definitely help me to get good points for that as well. I have one more tournament the Hong Kong Open, so focused on that," he said.
The title at the Super 500 event earned Lakshya 9,200 points, which will lift him to sixth place in the standings with 74,180 points when they are updated on Tuesday. However, the race to Hangzhou is not over yet, as the Hong Kong Open (November 17-22) is the last qualifying event.