Sen makes history

Paris, August 2
Lakshya Sen, the mercurial star who can play like the world No. 1 one day and the No. 30 a week later, clearly has got a nose for making news against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in big events. Sen, 22, today became the first Indian to reach the semifinals of men’s badminton at the Olympics, beating Chou 19-21 21-15 21-12 in 75 minutes.
In the semifinal on Sunday, Sen — a two-time Youth Olympics medallist — will play either Loh Kean Yew or Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, the current Olympics champion. “This is something that I have been dreaming of and it feels really good to be in the semifinals,” Sen, tired and sweaty and delighted, said minutes after his win. “There is a lot more work to do and now is the real test. It starts from here and now is the time to go back and recover and be ready for the next match!”
Sen had lost three times in four matches to Chou before today; in the only victory Sen scored, he won in straight games at the All-England Open last year. In other words, Sen lost three times to Chou in the third game, which raised questions about his physical and mental strength, the will to fight hard in the third game.
The three-game win today showed that Sen is fitter and stronger now, can look at adversity in the eye without blinking. Chou, who led 11-9 at the first break, extended his lead to five points before Sen took six points; Chou, however, kept his nerve to take the first game. Sen, however, was clearly superior in the next two games as Chou seemed to be tiring. Sen won eight of the last 10 points in the second game to take it 21-15, before sealing the third game and match with complete ease.
Ah, his nose, then… Sen had a surgery for a deviated septum in August last year — it was found that his right nasal passage was blocked and he was taking in only some 20 per cent of the normal. He says he had got used to breathing through his mouth, which isn’t ideal for an elite athlete. Perhaps the extra oxygen he’s breathing in would take him high at Paris, too. — TNS