On a day of mixed fortune for Indian shuttlers, Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen advanced to the final while two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu crashed out of the Canada Badminton Open in Calgary
In the semifinals, Lakshya Sen accounted for Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in straight games but Nishimoto’s compatriot Akane Yamaguchi took revenge as she eliminated Sindhu from the title race
World No 19th, Lakshya Sen, defeated world No. 11 Nishimoto 21-17, 21-14 in 44 minutes to storm into his first final on the 2023 BWF Tour. Later World No. 15 PV Sindhu, lost to world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi 21-14, 21-15 in a match that lasted 43 minutes.
Sindhu still leads Akane Yamaguchi 14-11 in the head-to-head contests. The Indian however, is yet to win a BWF title this year.
Playing on the badminton courts of the Markin MacPhail Centre, Lakshya Sen was on the backfoot at the start of the match with Kenta Nishimoto racing to a 4-0 lead in the first game. The 21-year-old Indian drew parity at 11-11 and then claimed five consecutive points to build a healthy lead and eventually won the first game.
Lakshya began the second game with a lot more intensity and went into the break with a two-point lead. From 13-11, he won six straight points to put the contest beyond Kenta Nishimoto’s reach. This was Indian’s second win over Kenta Nishimoto in three meetings.
Lakshya will play All England Open champion Li Shi Feng of China in the final . The Indian leads the world No. 10 Chinese player 4-2 in head-to-head and also won their last contest in June when they faced off in the second round of the Thailand Open.
It will be the first final for the Indian on the BWF World Tour since the All-England Championships last year where he lost to Victor Axelsen.
2019 world champion PV Sindhu could not catch up to reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi after conceding early momentum in the first game. The Japanese shuttler led by four points at the first interval. Despite Sindhu reducing the deficit to just two points at one stage, Akane Yamaguchi amped up her game in the backend to go 1-0 up.
The Indian tried to stage a comeback in the second game and was leading 13-9. However, Akane Yamaguchi, gave away just two points there onwards to take home the victory.