All England Open: Lakshya Sen eliminates defending champion Lee Zii Jia, becomes 5th Indian to reach final

Birmingham: India's rising star and world championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen continued his terrific form and marched into the finals of All England Open Badminton championships, beating Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in a thrilling semifinal clash here on Saturday.

The Indian, who is ranked 11 in the world, registered hard fought 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 win over seventh ranked Malaysian here at the Utilita Arena Birmingham to enter his first Super 1000 final.

After his semifinal win, he became the third men's singles player, after Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand, and overall fourth Indian to enter the final of the prestigious event.

The 20-year-old Almora boy is just a win away to end a title drought as only two Indians have won the Open since it started in 1899. Padukone was the first Indian to win the singles title in 1980. Pullela Gopichand became the second to win in 2001. Saina Nehwal was the runner-up in 2015.

This was not the first occasion when the youngster have stunned higher ranked player. He outplayed World no. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark by 21-16, 21-18 to enter the quarterfinals. He has trounced Anthony Ginting of Indonesia, who is ranked 5th in the world, in the German Open Open round-16 match last week.

In the semifinal of the same event, Sen defeated Tokyo Olympic champion and World no. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark to enter the finals. However, in the finals he ended up as a runner-up.

Earlier, the Indian claimed his first Super 500 title after defeating reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in January.

Opening game witnessed a close contest as both the players were not giving an inch to each other and the scores were 6-all before Lakshya raced to a 11-7 lead at the interval.

Post interval, the intense game continued as both the players were involved in a longer rallies but Lakshya was able to maintain a lead. Lakshya managed to build pressure on Lee with 19-13 lead, then took quick points and grabbed the first set 21-13 in no time.

After the change of sides, the Malaysian shifted momentum to his side and raced to 8-2 lead and went into the breather with healthy 11-3 advantage. Lee kept controlling Lakshya and held massive 16-5 lead.

Lakshya managed to reduce the scoreboard deficit to 10-16 but Lee increased his pace and succeeded in forcing the decider with 21-12 second set win.

Both the players were giving a tough fight to one and other and the scores read 9-all but it was Lee who took slender 11-9 lead at the time of mid-game break.

Post break, Lee did have a lead but Lakshya went all out to reduce the gap in the score and leveled it 18-all and quickly reached to match point and wrapped up the thrilling win with 21-19. (UNI)