Lakshya Sen storms into All England Open semifinal

Indian star shuttler Lakshya Sen came from behind to take down world number 10 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the quarterfinals of the All England Open Badminton Championships 2024 in Birmingham on Friday.

Lakshya won the match 20-22, 21-16, 21-19 in 71 minutes.

The match started with both shuttlers going at each other with Lee attacking and Sen matching him with his defence. At 16-16 in the first game, Lee accelerated the game with his monster smashes and made it 20-17.

Sen teased Lee at the net and induced errors to make it 20-20. However, the Malaysian was quick on his winners and won the first game.

Lakshya became stronger with his defence in the second game and started picking up Lee's smashes much better than in the first game. Lakshya's flurry of over-the-head smashes derailed Lee Zii Jia's momentum.

Lakshya motored well in the second game and won it 21-16 to force the decider.

In the final game, Lakshya brought his top game on the net and rushed Lee Zii Jia to take an early lead. Lee fought back with a couple of smashes and induced errors from Lakshya but the Indian shuttler held the fort with some strong advice from the coaching bench of Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar.

Lakshya won the final game 21-19 and made it to the semi-final of All England Open Badminton Championships for the second time.

"It was a really good match and happy to be on the winning side. It was all about keeping the nerve. I knew he has the quality to come back and give a tough fight," Sen said after winning.

He will face Jonatan Christie in the semifinals on Saturday.