Lakshya Sen loses to Axelsen to clinch All England Open 2022 silver medal

The Indian ace struggled to find answers to the World No.1s aggressive play.

World No.11 Lakshya Sen failed to win the All England Open final, losing out to former champion and World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen.

The Olympic champion took an early lead in the first game by 6-0. As the Indian ace looked to extend the rallies to tire his opponent, the World No.1 penetrated the deep corners of Lakshya’s side with his hold and flick shots, forcing him to lift most of the time, giving him the opportunities to finish with his big trademark smashes.

The Indian, on the other hand, tried to breathe in the game through his relentless defence but the Danish ace was too good to give in.

Axelsen entered the game point with an eleven-point cushion. The Indian sought to delay the decisive lead for his opponent but couldn’t thrive much longer as Viktor took the game 21-10.

The second game saw Viktor continuing his dominance. Lakshya looked to counter-attack to take the lead. However, he proved to be to passive against Axelsen’s steep shots and ran out of answers with each point he played.

The Dane ran into a galore of points at the mid-game interval at 11-6. He tended to maintain the advantage of points, not allowing Sen to stand a chance. Finally, he had eight match points at 20-12. Lakshya did save three match points, but Viktor finally took the championship point and won the match 21-10, 21-15. With this win, he won his second All England title in his fourth consecutive final at the All England Open.

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