Lakshya Sen wins Canada Open, first title of year

Lakshya Sen beat reigning All England Champion Li Shi Feng to win the Canada Open final in straight games 21-18, 22-20 at Calgary on Sunday night.

This is his first BWF World Tour title of the year and the first since India Open last year.

Sen was trailing by four points in the second game before saving four game points and bringing up a championship point for himself. This was after the Indian trailed all through the second game, after having had a slender lead in the first game.

Sen is set to move up to 12th in the BWF Rankings after this win. He will next be seen in action at the US Open. Currently, Lakshya is ranked 19th in the world. Li Shi Feng, who had been Lakshya's rival in the junior circuit too, is world ranked 10th.

Sen's health-related form slump since last year had seen him fall to 25th in the world rankings, but it seems the Indian is well and truly back in form. He beat Konlavut Viditsarn, Kenta Nishimoto and Shi Feng - the second, fourth and fifth seeds - on way to this title.

The Canada Open win is significant for Lakshya Sen also because it gives him vital ranking points to inch ahead of Kidambi Srikanth in the race for qualification to the Paris Olympics.