Lakshya Sen, an Indian shuttler, had a dismal end to his incredible campaign on Monday when he just missed out on the bronze medal in the men’s singles event at the present Olympics in Paris. Like many other Indian competitors, Sen was poised to create history in the Paris Olympics as he had a chance to become the first shuttler from India to win an Olympic medal in the men’s singles category.

After losing to Malaysia’s Zii Jia Lee 21-13, 16-21, 11-21, and finishing fourth in the event, he was too near to write his name in the history books.

The bronze medal match started with a spirited rally between the two shuttlers, Sen on the receiving end and Jia on the serving end. Lakshya won the opening set when the Malaysian shuttler shot the ball too far past the backline.

Jia’s nervous start caused him to make another mistake, giving Lakshya an early two-point advantage. Due to his incorrect assessment of the shuttle’s landing position, the score was 2-1. At 4-2, Jia’s comeback attempt was unsuccessful, giving Lakshay another two-point advantage. As the Malaysian kept missing his shots, Lakshya took three straight points.

With a cross-court dunk, Jia cut the lead to three, making the final score 7–4. Once more, Jia made a few mistakes that cost him, widening the margin and making the final score 10–4.

Lakshya, who demonstrated his skill with faultless defence, sent down hard smashes to increase his advantage to 11-6. He won the first set 21–13, demonstrating his ability to maintain control throughout thanks to his variety of shots. Lakshya didn’t give the seventh-seeded Malaysian shuttler any space to change the tide in the second set, where he was planning a comeback. He jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but Jia scored five straight points to tie the score. At the half, Jia led by three points after scoring eight straight points.

Lakshya put an end to Jia’s run of consecutive baskets with a powerful smash, and then he unsettled Jia with another cross-court smash. After he closed the gap, the score was 12-12. Jia narrowly regained the lead, but Laksya stopped the Malaysian from increasing it with strong in-line body smashes.

Lakshya attempted to go closer, but the Malaysian maintained composure to win the second set 16–21, maintaining the lead and even the score at 1-1.

Lakshya was beaten by Jia’s forehand, backhand, and constant smashes in the bronze medal match. Jia used gobsmacking smashes to quickly take a 2–9 lead. Before the halfway point, Lakshya was able to close the difference to 6-11. He eventually lost the third set and the bronze medal by an 11-21 score, never being able to catch up. 

(with inputs from ANI)