Lakshya Sen defeated HS Prannoy to enter the quarter-final of the men’s badminton in Paris Olympics. He is just one win away from a medal. He beat fellow Indian Prannoy in straight sets 21-12, 21-6. He is now the third Indian after Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio edition of the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016, to enter the last eight stage. Currently ranked 22, Sen will face 12th seed 34 year old Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals.
Sen will face Chen on Friday which should be a cracker of a match. Though Chen is ranked higher than Sen, Lakshya Sen has shown that big names and higher rankings are no deterrent for him. In his last match, he got the better of 4th-ranked Jonathan Christie. If Lakshya Sen beats Chen then he would be assured of a medal irrespective of the result of the semi-final match. If that happens he will be the first male badminton player from India to win an Olympic medal.
