Lakshya Sen was leading 11-8 in the decider against Lee Zii Jia, and Prakash Padukone had been suitably supportive and calming him with soothing words until then, leaving the sterner stuff for Vimal Kumar to dispel. But the wise coach had sensed some tentativeness in his ward, which in Sen’s case can quickly escalate into a maddening flurry of errors and gifting of momentum.
It’s when Vimal recalls Padukone’s face suddenly hardened, the tone got cutting and no-nonsense. In a higher than usual pitch, Padukone bluntly reminded the youngster: “You have not come here to lose.” Sen would respond with an uncharacteristic gnashing, “Yesssss”. Vimal had stopped breathing in that fervent moment between two men whom he’d never seen so intense. It joined two All Englands 44 years apart.
Padukone had watched Anthony Ginting take out an increasingly vulnerable Viktor Axelsen on the adjacent court. Suddenly, the All England was looking very open. Winnable, even. Padukone who was travelling for tournaments after 25 years, and has been parking himself at the net, with Vimal at the back court, during frenzied multi-feed, knocking practice sessions, did not want Sen to fritter things from that juncture. “It was like the old times, like when we were young,” Vimal would reminisce. “Even Lakshya seemed happy and driven.” He would scale up the aggressive intent and the decisive point came at 16-13, where Sen’s down attack from the net was so breathless and relentless, that Lee literally wilted, and would go on to miss big smashes. Sen had put behind a close first set loss, to win 20-22, 21-16, 21-19 scorcher to make semifinals.
Sen had arrived in Birmingham after a fine week at Paris, and making a late successful charge at Olympic qualification. But what has been a recurring theme is how when he’s seemingly down and out, he ignites himself a spark. To a spectator, it is straightforward injection of pace into rallies, which literally crowded Lee Zii Jia and cramped his expansive smash, pushing him into over-hitting errors.
Sen led for most part of the opener, till 16-16. He was defending sturdily like he always does, and reading the Malaysian former All E champion brilliantly. He doesn’t have a grand attack, his round-the-heads are strictly middling when compared to Lee Zii Jia’s monster-smash, hardest on the circuit. There was a deadly one at 397 kph in the second set. What Sen lacks in thudding power, he makes up with ridonculous speed of sending the shuttle across the tape, after some unreal defense. He uses his racquet skills at the net to redirect the shuttle criss crossing it at such a fast clip, that he yo-yoed Lee along a diagonal scurry – pullung him to the forecourt backhand corner with flicks, and next shot straight to his rear court far forehand.
“When he trailed, he could pull out a spark and knew when he needed to apply pressure by upping the pace,” Vimal said. When Zii Jia led 20-17, Sen teased out tight net errors and made it 20-all, but was thwarted as the Malaysian exploited just the slight extra seconds Sen took to recover from a deep backhand turn. Zii Jia had a dozen mammoth smashes at least, and this was one that buried into the court with Sen stranded.
In the second set, Sen started picking most of Zii Jia’s smashes as his defense got even more dogged. But he wasn’t connecting the ripostes well enough for counters. It’s when he went for the body attack instead.
His in-rally acceleration is one of the best in the world, and he can sustain the pace over three sets. The rallies weren’t strictly physically punishing beyond the feverish speed, but would have taken an emotional toll. But unlike against Loh Kean Yew, Zii Jia just couldn’t hit through when playing Sen. The Indian induced errors by crowding his attack with flurries.
In the decider, a critical point played out at 5-4, when Sen followed a sharp drop to front court with a looping shot over Zii Jia’s head. Sen had struck the perfect length – hitting him around face level. But he simply upped the ante and sent down 5 smashes, finally winning on the sixth which bore down on the Malaysian to go up 10-8. After that Sen was relentless from the net. Zii Jia plays a flashy game, isn’t the quickest at anticipation, and gets his footwork into tangles when opponents dictate rallies. Sen rushed him, and after defending from the floor for 20-19, picked the winning point by ducking his shoulder and letting the shuttle whiz past and go long. Like in 2022 when Sen made finals, he had once more taken out the Malaysian.
Indonesian Jonatan Christie is up next, and along with being steady, he has one of the most insistent back corner attacks with smashes and clears. Sen can expect a grind though he knows he has the tools and pace to put the Indonesian under severe pressure according to the reports published in indianexpress.com .
Nailing the Olympic qualification hs also liberated him, though Vimal recalls another straight talking conversation Padukone had with Sen. “We told him what’s the worst that can happen? You won’t qualify. But now that he’s managed it, we’ll take a few calls on scheduling his tournaments cutting down on some. His body needs to be protected from injury. He can deliver at the Olympics, inject pace when needed.”
At Birmingham, both his parents have taken up a place close to the arena, and Sen is actually having home food everyday. “His strength has improved in last six months, though his endurance can get better. The net game can improve. But with all the upsets, there’s a chance of him going the distance,” Vimal says. Like Padukone’s words will ring in his brain, he didn’t go to Birmingham to lose.
