Former Indian shuttler Dinesh Khanna on Monday praised Lakshya Sen for putting up a spirited fight against Vixtor Axelesen in the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships.
Lakshya Sen lost to world number one Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen at the men's singles final at All England Badminton Open Championships.
"For me, reaching the finals is a very big achievement. The final clash was really great. Each and every rally played in the game was very tough. As you know, Axelsen is an Olympic champion, he is world no 1 player but the way Lakshya Sen played against him and gave a tough fight, it was really commendable," Dinesh Khanna told ANI.
"Two weeks back, Lakshya had defeated Axelsen in the German Open. That's why Axlesen came with full preparations to compete with Lakshya. If we combine these two tournaments, then we can see that Lakshya has defeated the world's best four players. This shows the consistency and unique style of his game," he added.
Dane shuttler defeated Sen by 21-10, 21-15 at Utilita Arena in Birmingham in the badminton match that lasted 53 minutes.
Viktor Axelsen has now increased his lead in the head-to-head against Sen by 5-1.
The young Indian shutter was bidding to become only the third man after Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pullela Gopichand (2001) to win the All England Open Badminton Championships, or simply All England which is the world's oldest and most prestigious badminton tournament.
After taking part in this final, Sen is now only the fifth Indian - after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980 and 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) - to make the summit clash of All England.
India's rising badminton star has been in top form in recent times. He secured his maiden world championships bronze in December, before winning his first Super 500 title at India Open in January and finishing runner-up at the German Open last week.
( With inputs from ANI )
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