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After losing his semifinal match at the Paris Olympics, Lakshya Sen still has the chance to script history for India as he takes on Lee Zii Jia in a fight for bronze. The two shuttlers have often battled each other, but the stakes on Tuesday will be higher than ever before.
Sen and the Malaysian have faced each other five times over the last eight years, and the Indian has lost only one of these encounters. The first time the duo clashed swords was at the 2016 India International Series, where an unseeded Lakshya geared up to battle ninth seed Lee. Aided by the advantage of playing on home ground, the Indian walked away with the win 11-13, 11-3, 11-6, 11-6.
The next time Lakshya Sen squared off against the Malaysian was at the 2022 All England Championships, where he entered the match as the underdog yet again. Despite Lee being the higher-ranked player of the two, it was the Indian who claimed the win 21-13, 12-21, 21-9.
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Two months later, at the 2022 Thomas Cup, Sen pulled off a three-peat when he beat his Malaysian foe for the third consecutive time needing only two games in this instance.
The first and only time Lee Zii Jia beat Lakshya Sen was at the 2023 Indonesia Open. There, the 26-year-old avenged his previous losses, downing the Indian 21-17, 21-13. However, Sen exacted this defeat a year later at the 2024 All England Championships, beating the Malaysian in a three-game thriller.
Lakshya Sen at the Paris Olympics
Lakshya Sen will head into his bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics a heavy favorite for the win. Before his run-in with reigning champion Viktor Axelsen, the Indian had been on quite the giant-killing spree, taking down Jonatan Christie, HS Prannoy, Chou Tien Chen, all opponents ranked higher than him.
Even in his semifinal defeat to the tall Dane, Sen showed glimpses of brilliance, waiting with patience as the two-time World Champion would walk into his delicately laid trap.
Now, as he takes on Lee Zii Jia on the courts of La Chapelle Arena tomorrow, the shuttler had the chance to create history as the first Indian badminton player to win a men's singles medal at the Games.
