All England badminton: Lakshya Sen faces Jonatan test in second round | Badminton News

Ahead of his opening round at the All England Open, former final Lakshya Sen was thrown a curveball. In the lead-up he was preparing for Japan’s Koki Watanabe, but when the draw was finalised after withdrawals on Monday, Chinese Taipei’s Su Li Yang was promoted in Watanabe’s place, and it reflected in the way the Indian started the match.
“It was a tricky one,” Lakshya told BWF after his 13-21, 21-17, 21-15 win. In the first game, the Indian seemed taken aback and not at his best. “I just got to know the previous evening that I’m playing him. Su is a tough opponent and I couldn’t find my rhythm in the first game… but I’m happy with the way I stuck in there. He’s quite an attacking player from the net, and he came in with a good approach. This is something for me to keep in mind going forward, I need to start better.”On Thursday, starting better will be a non-negotiable for Lakshya. In front of him will be a player keen to exact some revenge. If Paris 2024 was bittersweet for Lakshya – after a fine run to the semifinals followed two agonising defeats – it was just bitter for Indonesia’s Jonatan Chrie.
As one of the pre-tournament favourites for the podium, Chrie found himself in the same group as Lakshya and the Indian produced a sparkling performance to end his tournament even before the knockouts. Chrie, the reigning All England champion, was asked about that experience when he was in Delhi for the India Open earlier this year, and his response was brief: it’s a match he’d like to erase from his memory.
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Lakshya, however, would like to jog his memory from that match for some confidence heading into the second-round clash as Chrie will start favourite again. After an opening- round exit in the Malaysia Open at the start of the year, the World No.2 reached the semifinals in Delhi and followed that up reaching the final at the Indonesia Masters.
In contrast, Lakshya – who trails 2-4 on the Head-to-Head – has had a patchy start to the year, winning just one of his four matches on the World Tour before coming into All England. He said on Tuesday that an ankle niggle meant his training has been curtailed, but he has had a good few weeks under his belt before Birmingham, having started to work with a familiar face once again: Korea’s Yoo Yong Sung, who has had a couple of stints with Lakshya in the past.

“I started training with my old coach Yoo three weeks back,” he said. “Last week, I was in Wimbledon to get used to the time difference. It has been a good month. With him, the intensity on court goes up during training.”

Vinayakk Mohanarangan is Senior Assant Editor and is based in New Delhi. … Read More