Olympics 2024 Badminton: Lakshya Sen loses in semis, to play Lee Jii Zia in bronze-medal playoff - Highlights

Game 1: Three points on the trot for Lakshya

Axelsen goes out, and Lakshya wins a point to trail 3-5. 

Lakshya follows it up with a drop shot. He draws level at 5-5.

Game 1: Lakshya smashes and closes the gap

Axelsen's poor judgement, he plays the shuttle late from the backcourt and opens the frontcourt. Lakshya finishes it with a deep smash. Lakshya trails 2-4. 

Axelsen extends the lead to 5-2, but Lakshya closes the gap with a down-the-line drop shot to trail 3-5. 

Game 1: Poor judgement from Lakshya

Lakshya allows Axelsen's toss to land in and the Dane shuttler goes 4-1 up. 

Game 1: First point for Lakshya

The Indian shuttler opens his account 

Game 1: Errors creep in in Lakshya's game

Axelsen takes a 3-0 lead after Lakshya makes three errors in a row, all after rallies. 

Game 1: Lakshya goes long this time

Axelsen claims a 2-0 lead.

Game 1: Axelsen wins the first point

Lakshya's crosscourt whip goes wide after a good rally. 

Kunlavut Vitidsarn reaches final

Kunlavut Vitidsarn beats Lee Zii Jia 21-14, 21-15 to reach the men's singles final.

Vitidsarn's opponent in the final will be decided in the second semifinal between Lakshya and Axelsen. 

Lakshya vs Axelsen

Axelsen walks into the court in red with a white Nordic cross jersey, while Lakshya wears blue white a white shoulder shirt. 

What happened when Lakshya and Axelsen met in the final last time?

Laskhya and Axelsen faced each other in the final only once, back in 2022 at the All-England Open. 

Lakshya was the toast of the nation that year, having won the Thomas Cup team title, Commonwealth Games gold and India Open BWF World Tour title. 

At the All England Open, Lakshy reached the final by beating Lee Zii Jia in the semifinals. Axelsen, on the other hand, beat Chou Tien Chen in straight games. 

In the final, their sixth meeting, Axelsen thumped Lakshya 21-10, 21-15. 

Since then things have changed, with Axelsen after a dominating season in 2022 going down in the BWF World Rankings, while Lakshya recovered from a nose surgery and got his Midas touch back at the Paris Olympics. 

The badminton fans are set for an exciting clash!