Paris Olympics 2024: Lakshya Sen finishes fourth after losing bronze medal match to Lee Zii Jia

This was Lakshya Sen’s maiden Olympic campaign.

Lakshya Sen came agonisingly close to becoming India’s first male medallist in badminton, but it was not to be for the 22-year-old. Sen went down in three games to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match to finish fourth at Paris Olympics 2024.

Heading into the bronze medal match, Sen was an outright favourite against his Malaysian opponent who he led 4-1 in their last five meetings.

Heartbreak for Lakshya Sen and India!! 💔He finishes 4th in men's singles on his Olympic debut after defeat to 🇲🇾 Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match.#Paris2024 #Badminton pic.twitter.com/KT5537UCnu

— Khel Now (@KhelNow) August 5, 2024

The World Championships bronze medallist, who lost the semi-final clash to now two-time defending champion Viktor Axelsen, took his first big step towards the bronze when he won the first game by a comprehensive margin of 21-13.

Lee then flipped the script in the second game, opening a nine-point lead from which Lakshya just couldn’t recover. Making it 21-16 to level the contest, Lee stormed to a 21-11 victory in the decider and thus made it an agony affair on Day 10 of the Paris Olympics 2024 for India.

In badminton, with PV Sindhu and favourites in doubles Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty knocked out, hopes of a medal were pinned on the young Lakshya’s shoulders. But all his efforts were in vain.

To be sure, two hours of heartbreak consumed within 24 hours could be quite a realization; it had already started showing in the body language of Lakshya, who had gathered all the courage in the world to speak following his defeat. Even as words fumbled out of his mouth, you can be sure that he will only take this as a learning experience and hopefully come good on Victor Axelsen’s prediction for him in LA Olympics four years down the line.

Also Read: Lakshya Sen vs Lee Zii Jia, Bronze medal match highlights

But the outcome should not take the sheen off just how memorable this campaign has been for Lakshya, the rising Indian shuttler. Though his win over Kevin Cordon was ‘deleted’ after the Guatemalan shuttler withdrew with an injury, Lakshya steamrolled past Julien Carraggi, Jonatan Christie, HS Prannoy, and Chou Tien-Chen on his way to the semi-final.

Yes, he was exhausted and was bleeding too because of a wound to his elbow forcing medical timeout was a couple of times, but he used neither as an excuse. “I came well-prepared. It’s been a pretty tough week on the whole, but I kept on building. I was ready to give my 100 percent,” Lakshya said.

Despite being ranked and seeded higher than Lakshya, a nervous Lee committed regular errors on touch shots to give the Indian a 6-2 lead at the beginning. Playing with the drift, many of the Malaysian’s pushes sent the bird flying out of court. Errors on net shots also handed multiple points as the world No. #22 led 11-5 at the interval on the opening game.

Though Lakshya made a couple of wrong line judgement calls, he continued with his business to inch closer to winning the first game, which he did on his first game-point.

Coach U Vimal Kumar told him to not change his style and play freely while Prakash Padukone told him to “finish the contest in two games.”

Also Read: Lee Zii Jia’s career in numbers: Records, stats, and titles

The second-game advice from his coach was to pick up exactly from where he had left in the opening game, and Lakshya did just that, going on a roll from the disadvantageous end to take an 8-3 lead. In the do or die situation, Lee began fighting back, taking advantage of the better end to win nine points on the trot and go 12-8 up.

The former Asian and All England champion was much more proactive in the second game and used his reflexes, agility, and powerful jump smashes to make sure he stayed ahead of the Indian for the rest of the game.

Even from the worse end, Lee led 7-2 in the decider. Lee kept on increasing the lead as Lakshya’s body language suggested his lack of confidence in his own shots, resulting in many more errors. After the interval, where Lee led 11-6, the Malaysian continued with his dominance to seal a nine match-point lead with a body smash earning him the bronze.

This was Malaysia’s second badminton medal at Paris Olympics 2024 after the men’s doubles pairing of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik captured the bronze medal.

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