New Delhi: Sixth-seeded Lakshya Sen caused one of the major upsets so far in the Badminton Asia Junior Championships when he toppled second-seeded Chinese Li Shifeng 21-14, 21-12 to enter the men singles semifinals Friday on the third day of the individual events at Jakarta.
Lakskya, who ensured himself at least a bronze medal, will now take on Indonesian and fourth seed Ikhsan Leonardo Rumbay for a place in the final.
However, the men doubles pair of Manjit Singh and Dingko Singh bowed out in the pre-quarters losing to top-seeded Chinese duo of Di Zijian and Wang Chang, the title favourites. The Chinese pair won 21-7, 21-15.
Li was the favourite in the match against Lakshya. However, the Indian started on a dominant and aggressive note, completely unsettling the Chinese shuttler. Li could never get any rhythm in the entire course of the match. He committed plenty of unforced errors helping Lakshya win both the games comfortably.
Employing his net-play to good effect and using half-court smashes assiduously Lakshya built up comfortable leads in both the games and never allowed the Chinese construe a comeback.
However, the semifinal showdown with local player Rumbay may not be as easy as the latter will have crowd support. Yet, the way Lakshya has displayed his prowess, particularly against the second seed Chinese, his capability cannot be doubted against the Indonesian.
Earlier in the quarterfinals played on the day, Lakshya beat Thailand’s Saran Jamsiri 21-15, 21-16. However Kiran George lost to Indonesian Alberto Alvin Yulianto 21-19, 21-19 in a battle that lasted 46 minutes and saw a few good rallies. Priyanshu Rajawat also went down to Malaysian Tze Yong NG, the 15th seed, 15-21, 14-21.