India's <keyword id="769084" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Lakshya-Sen" source="Orion">Lakshya Sen</keyword> will need to play out of his skin to keep his maiden <keyword id="20342188" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gold-medal" source="keywords">gold medal</keyword> hopes alive, when he takes on the reigning <keyword id="19986816" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Olympic" source="keywords">Olympic</keyword> champion <keyword id="681934" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Viktor-Axelsen" source="Orion">Viktor Axelsen</keyword> in the men's singles semifinals at the Paris Games here on Sunday. Making his Olympics debut, Sen created history on Friday after becoming the first Indian individual male shuttler to reach the last four of the showpiece with a 19-21 21-15 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in an intense quarterfinal match. The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand, when he takes on <keyword id="22651015" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Axelsen" source="keywords">Axelsen</keyword>, the baby-faced <keyword id="20012442" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="badminton" source="keywords">badminton</keyword> giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years. The 30-year-old from Odense, Denmark, has won the Tokyo gold and Rio bronze, two world championship titles in 2017 and 2022, a <keyword id="99398" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Thomas-Cup" source="Orion">Thomas Cup</keyword> triumph in 2016 and multiple BWF world tour and Superseries titles to experience a dominating run as world No. 1 from December 2021 to June 2024. Sen, a 2021 World championships bronze medallist, has lost seven times to the super Dane, who faced defeat just once against the Indian at the 2022 German Open. The 22-year-old, however, has shown little to no respect for the past records against his higher-ranked opponents so far, as he plotted the downfall of world number 4 Jonatan Christie in the group stage and Chou, ranked 11, in the quarters. Axelsen has looked a tad subdued this season with just one title at the Malaysia Masters. The Dane also suffered an ankle injury in early June during the Singapore Open and was forced to withdraw from the Indonesia Open. Sen, on the other hand, hasn't looked fitter in his career. He has been rock solid in his defence as he covered the court well and played at a high pace. His ability to produce winners at will has held him in good stead. The 1.94m-tall Dane has an all-rounded game and is known to rain down brutal smashes from a great height. Axelsen, who received a bye in the pre-quarterfinals, had just one real challenge in the quarterfinals, but he got past former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore without much ado. In their eight meetings, only two matches have gone to three games, including the contest in Muelheim an der Ruhr. After seeing off the speedy and consistent Chou in a gruelling three-gamer on Friday, Sen will be now backing himself to prevail, if it goes the distance against the Dane. Axelsen had robbed him of All England glory two years back, when he beat him in the final. Then there were those twin losses in the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals and Sen will be itching to return the favour at the world's biggest stage. A semifinalist gets two chances to return with a medal. A win will keep Sen on course for Indian badminton's maiden Olympic gold, while a loss will give him a shot at the bronze medal in the play-offs. "There's lot more work to do. Now, the real test starts," Sen had said after his quarterfinals. For Sen, who wears "Sky is the limit" tattoo on his neck, only the gold can quench his hunger.

Lakshya aims to dial-up 'Sen-mode' against Super Dane Axelsen in Olympic semis

Lakshya <keyword id="866" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="sen" source="Orion">Sen</keyword>'s dream run at the All England Championships ended with a heartbreaking straight-game loss against world number one and Olympic champion <keyword id="681934" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="viktor-axelsen" source="Orion">Viktor Axelsen</keyword> in the men's singles final on Sunday, continuing India's 21-year-long agonising wait for the coveted trophy. After four days of sensational badminton, the 20-year-old Sen faltered on the cusp of history as he committed too many errors to go down 10-21 15-21 to former champion <keyword id="4019922" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="axelsen" source="Orion">Axelsen</keyword> in a lop-sided summit clash that lasted 53 minutes at the Barclaycard Arena. "I thnk the strategy was there. I played him last week but today he was looking solid in attack and defence as well. He was really patient and played a really good game," Sen said after the match. "In the opening game, I committed a lot of errors, that cost me the game. I was there in the second game but again he was too solid for me to put the shuttle down." On Saturday, Sen had become only the fifth Indian after <keyword id="13420835" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prakash-nath" source="Orion">Prakash Nath</keyword> (1947), <keyword id="10487" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prakash-padukone" source="Orion">Prakash Padukone</keyword> (1980, 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) to reach the final of the prestigious tournament after outwitting defending champion Lee Zii Jia in a gruelling semifinal. A week back, Sen had recorded his first win over former world champion Axelsen en route to his final appearance at the German Open but he couldn't sustain his craft on Sunday as his highly-fancied rival returned the favours, claiming his fifth overall win against the Indian. "There was a lot of pressure before the match but when I was on court it was just another match for me. I played really crucial match yesterday and that gave me confidence but credit to him for playing a perfect game." While 2020 winner Axelsen claimed the men's singles title for the second time, Japan's Akane Yamaguchi won the women's singles crown, beating South Korea's An Seyoung 21-15 21-15 in the final. Sen couldn't mount his attack and trailed early on with Axelsen galloping to a 6-0 lead with the help of some precise smashes on the lines. An aggressive return of serve helped Sen break the run of play but he couldn't find openings as Axelsen kept the Indian away from the net, keeping him at the baseline with his returns. A long 61-shot rally ended with Axelsen punishing Sen for his weak lift as the Dane grabbed a huge 11-2 lead at the mid game interval with a flick. A couple of unforced errors from Axelsen gave Sen two points and the Indian unleashed a cross-court smash to make it 5-13, a gap which proved too big to bridge as the Dane held 11 game-point opportunities with a smash. Sen saved one before he sent the next wide to give a 1-0 lead to Axelsen. After the change of sides, Sen tried to engage his rival in energy-sapping rallies but he didn't get the length right and allowed the Dane to take 4-2 lead. Sen managed to reduce it to 5-6 but Axelsen used his height and reach to produce some powerful smashes to make it 8-4. The Dane continued to put the young Indian under pressure with his angles, length and precision to get to a decisive 11-5 advantage at the interval. Sen couldn't find a way to breach the defence of his fancied rival, who looked in complete control. Trailing 10-17, Sen tried to engage his rival in long rallies. The Indian won a 70-shot rally after Axelsen made a wrong judgement at baseline. However, it was soon eight match point opportunities for Axelsen with Sen going to the net. The Indian saved three match points before sending the shuttle to the net as Axelsen celebrated. Despite the loss, it has been a creditable performance for Sen, who is still in his early days in elite-level badminton. "Since the pandemic happened, I have played really good badminton. I have to keep playing continuously at the top level and now I know what it is like to be playing in the big circuit. Every match is important and I have to be prepared and it gives me a lot of confidence," Sen said. A product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, Sen has been in sensational form in the last six months. He secured his maiden world championships bronze in December last, before winning his first Super 500 title at India Open in January and finishing runner-up at the German Open last week. Asked about his upcoming events, Sen said he will play the Swiss Open and Korea Open next. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/crypto-tax-in-india-kicks-in-from-april-heres-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/90344479.cms">India’s cryptocurrency tax kicks in from April – here’s what investors need to know</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/adani-group-ioc-bpcl-hpcl-reliance-hdfc-and-other-hot-stocks-on-march-21/slidelist/90344098.cms">Adani group, IOC, BPCL, HPCL, Reliance, HDFC and other hot stocks on March 21</a>

India's Lakshya Sen loses to Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in Badminton men's singles

By Amit Kumar Das New Delhi, Apr 27 () With five titles under his belt, Lakshya Sen was racing towards the top echelons of international badminton before his stunning run was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought all competitive action to a halt across the world. With the world in lockdown to contain the deadly disease, Lakshya too is enduring the uncertain times within the confines of his apartment, near the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru. "I was looking forward to play big tournaments, compete against better players and try to make it to top 15 this year. But then everything stopped suddenly, all tournaments suspended. Now I don't know when they will resume," Lakshya told . The 18-year-old from Uttarakhand was in sensational form in the senior circuit last year as he claimed as many as five titles, including two BWF World Tour Super 100 top honours -- SaarLorLux Open and Dutch Open -- to zoom to 32nd rank by the end of the year. He is currently placed 27th in the world rankings. He continued his good run early this year, claiming a big win over Asian Games gold-medallist Jonathan Christie of Indonesia at the Badminton Asia Team Championships and then putting up an impressive show against former world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the second round of the All England Championships. Lakshya was looking forward to the Swiss Open (March 17-22) but All England turned out to be the last tournament before the BWF suspended all action. In fact, he was in the middle of the tournament when government's travel restrictions came into force. "I had a match to play (second round) when the Ministry had announced travel restrictions. I didn't think much about it but by the time I had played my match, BWF had cancelled the tournaments. "So, we booked tickets and returned. Initially our plans was to go to Swiss from there," said the soft-spoken Indian. Lakhsya has been at home since returning to the country and has his family with him. He has got the company of his mother, his brother Chirag Sen, who is also an international shuttler, and father D K Sen, who has been coaching at the PPBA after taking voluntary retirement from the Sports Authority of India. In a bid to retain the fun of playing the sport, the Sen family decided to clear out an area in the drawing room. "I believe something is better than nothing. So we have removed the dining table and other furniture in the drawing room to create some space for them to play for fun, at least they can have a feel of the racquet in hand," the senior Sen said. "Sometimes they work on net play, or just work on service because you can't play shots like tosses or smashes inside the room, in this little space." Was he impressed with Lakshya's game against Viktor? "Well, he was playing well in All England but he made some mistakes in crucial points. I believe he will need to show more maturity when he takes on big and experienced players," he said in a rather dispassionate assessment. With courts out of bound, Lakshya and Chirag are also trying to keep themselves fit. "We train for sometime in morning and evening, we do exercises like skipping, body weight, core workout, agility training and some wall exercises. We are given weekly schedule from the academy," Lakshya said. "Rest of the time, we watch movies and play games on playstation. I do feel restless a bit because there is not much we can do but training helps. "It is after a pretty long time that I have got this break, generally when you are injured you get such a break," he signed off. ATK PM PM

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Lakshya aims to dial-up 'Sen-mode' against Super Dane Axelsen in Olympic semis

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India's Lakshya Sen loses to Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in Badminton men's singles

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Was on course for top-15 ranking: Teen shuttler Lakshya Sen counts losses amid COVID-19 lockdown

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