How Lakshya Sen, leading in both games, lost to Viktor Axelsen in semis

18-13 and 20-17 in the opening game, and 7-0 in the second. These are the glaring leads Lakshya Sen had achieved in the semifinals on Monday.

But his loss of sheen mid-way through the semifinals meant reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen was through to the final, and the Indian shuttler will now have to play in the less-glitzy bronze-medal playoff.

Errors should not be spared, they should be punished. Despite not looking so convincing today, Axelsen did exactly that to reach his second successive Olympic final.

What looked like a lost chance for Axelsen at one point, he revived his fortune by stealing a win from the jaws of defeat.

Lakshya, the last Indian shuttler standing at the Games, wasted a handful of chances to go down in straight games in the semifinals.

Due to his topsy-turvey game, he lost a precious chance of making it to the gold medal match.

Had Lakshya been a little more wary of his game, he might not have had to deal with the heartbreak.

The way Lakshya, the first Indian men's singles player to reach the semifinals at the Olympics, put his defeat into perspective summed up his emotions.

"I should have been more alert towards the end. If I had closed the first set, I could have gotten a chance in the third to win still."

But when you play an all-round player like Axelsen, everything tends to go wrong for his rival. The Dane shuttler has the uncanny ability to pull off the unexpected.

Losing the sheen mid-way

The opening game was close, but for losing the game only Lakshya himself had to be blamed.

He started the game with three errors to trail 0-3 but showed his incredible composure under an intense situation to pull his way back to stay 11-10 ahead at the interval.

From there on, his ability to stay up in the fight with rallies getting longer and longer, Axelsen found himself in an unfavourable position. He lost net battles, committed errors on the sideline and his defence was nowhere impeccable.

At 17-12, Lakshya pushed the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist in one corner of his court opening his entire forehand side wide open.

That was not the only time Lakshya bemused Axelsen. There was a brilliant net battle that Lakshya won with his shot trickling over the net cord and Axelsen missed it like hell.

But then, Axelsen pulled the string and found his mojo back with a smash. Still trailing 13-18 he started dictating the game. Suddenly, the conditions looked hostile for Lakshya. He lost five points.

Though Lakshya would still manage to earn two game-point chances, he could not accumulate the courage to finish off the game. Axelsen would win four points in a row to deny his Indian counterpart the lead.

Wasteful second game

Against Lakshya, Axelsen perhaps faced his first big test in the ongoing Olympics. He could not make it easy against an opponent he had a 7-1 lead. He admitted that in the post-match interaction. "Lakshya Sen is an incredible talent. It was my toughest match today."

Lakshya, in no time, went up 7-0 in the second game, hinting the match would go to the decider.

But suddenly the 22-year-old Indian looked tensed; he resorted to defending. Advises were incoming from the sideline. "You are too slow, you can play fast," Vimal Kumar reminded Lakshya.

"Lakshya could have won today. But he tensed up because he's gone where no Indian has gone before," Axelsen stated.

When Axelsen saw Lakshya struggling, he perished and scrambled his defence with deep smashes. Though Lakshya still managed to stay 11-10 ahead in the game, he suddenly looked perished under a fresh assault from the Dane shuttler.

When he had a chance to step up his attack and finish a rally with a smash to Axelsen's forehand side, Lakshya opted to play a toss that went wide, allowing Axelsen to draw level at 12-12.

Once Axelsen went 13-12 up in the game, Lakshya never could script a comeback. His lost intensity and defensive game meant Axelsen was all over the game.

Eventually, Lakshya committed three errors - playing into the net, failing to return a smash, and then going wide - to lose the second game 21-14, and the most important match of his life.

This loss will leave Lakshya dented as he wasted his lead in both games to deprive himself of a chance to bask in golden glory in Paris.

After the match, he confessed his approach to the game was passive near the end.

"I started well, but couldn't keep the lead. Axelsen started attacking a lot towards the end, so I think I became a little passive where I was only defensive, I think I should have taken my chances and should have attacked more," confessed Lakshya.

Though a chance is lost, Lakshya is still determined to give his 100 percent tomorrow. He will still have a chance to make it to the podium if he beats Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal playoff on Monday.