Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen went down to world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the All England men’s singles final on Sunday.
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 Axelsen in a lop-sided summit clash that lasted 53 minutes at the Barclaycard Arena.
On Saturday, Sen had become only the fifth Indian after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (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.
Social media hailed the young gun on his remarkable achievement, with a plethora of reactions coming from all around the country.
Cricket legend Sachin Tendular tweeted, “There are no failures in life. You either win or you learn. I am sure you’ve learnt so much from this amazing experience, @lakshya_sen. Wish you the very best for upcoming tournaments.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out a tweet congratulating Sen, saying, “Proud of you
@lakshya_sen! You’ve shown remarkable grit and tenacity. You put up a spirited fight. Best wishes for your future endeavours. I am confident you will keep scaling new heights of success.”
Politician Rahul Gandhi also sent his best wishes for Sen as he tweeted, “You are second to none,
@lakshya_sen. You have won a billion hearts. Congratulations for a wonderful performance. You have done India 🇮🇳 proud! My best wishes for your future endeavours.”
Former hockey player Viren Rasquinha said, “Axelsen was simply too good today. No shame in losing to the best & most consistent Men’s singles player on the planet at the moment. It has been a great two weeks for @lakshya_sen. So proud of this young boy. Easy to forget that he is still only 20 years old. His day will come.”
