Indian young shuttler Lakshya Sen stunned World Champion Loh Kean Yew to clinch the gold medal at the Indian Open 2022. He became the first Indian to win the title on debut. He was sensational from start to finish in an event that was marred by constant COVID-19 cases.
A lot of players who were part of the tournament had to withdraw from the India Open and their opponents were handed walkovers.
However, Sen was not the only winner for India as the Men’s Doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also reigned supreme against the top seed Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan. The Daddies with all their experience were second best at the finals of the India Open as SatwikSairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian pair to win the Doubles title at the Indian Open.
Lakshya Sen and Satwik-Chirag’s sensational performance at the India Open helped them raise their rankings. Sen after winning the gold medal at the event in New Delhi helped him reach his career high ranking of 13th. While the Men’s Doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also reached career high eighth place in the World Rankings.
Other Indian shuttlers like Double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu who crashed out in the semifinals remained at the seventh ranking. Whereas Srikanth Kidambi who had to withdraw from the tournament after contracting COVID-19 remains at the tenth spot in the world rankings.
Sen made a jump of four spots moving up from the 17th position with a big win. He reached his career high 13th spot with 66470 points to close in on 12th ranked Loh Kean Yew whom he recently defeated in the finals of the India Open.
India’s future Lakshya Sen has continued his rich vein of form as he won the bronze medal in the World Championship in Huelva, Spain. There the 20-year-old shuttler could not overcome the challenge of his more experienced compatriot, Srikanth Kidambi as he lost to him in the semifinals. Sen lost the semifinals against Srikanth in a hard fought match 21–17, 14–21, 17–21. He had to settle for the Bronze medal at the World Championships. But he compensated for that loss with a stunning win at the India Open against Loh Kean Yew.
