The 22-year-old Almora born shuttler was looking far too strong for his veteran South American rival Kevin Cordon, a 37-year-old left hander appearing in his fifth Games as he raced to a 21-8 victory in the first game.
Indian Badminton player Lakshya Sen (ANI Photo)
Laskhya Sen had a memorable debut appearance in the Olympic Games in more ways than one here today.
The 22-year-old Almora born shuttler was looking far too strong for his veteran South American rival Kevin Cordon, a 37-year-old left hander appearing in his fifth Games as he raced to a 21-8 victory in the first game.
But on the adjacent court a French mixed doubles pair was up against the top ranked Chinese duo and the noise that the big crowd made to egg on the home country players seemed to affect the Indian a bit and he quickly trailed his rival.
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In fact Sen was down 7-11 at the change of ends and then was behind 16-20 when he made a great effort to level the scores with some excellent net play and drops that caught his rival on the wrong foot.
At 19-20 Sen drew his rival forward and flicked home a winner, Cordon hit wide on the next point and then Sen deceived his rival with a cleverly placed serve and followed it by a kill at the net to romp home in his three-man group game.
He will play against Indonesia’s Jonanathan Christie to conclude his preliminary league engagements.
Sen said that he had trouble in game two with the crowd noise as well as the wind.
“In the beginning I was on the better side, against the wind and could control the shuttle better. But from the other side of the court it was a bit difficult to control the shuttle well and also get a few smashes in.”
“It was an important win. But for now I am just focused on the recovery part and getting ready for the next match. I would point myself to play at my best in the second match,” he said.
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