Indian shuttlers settle for bronze

Manila (Philippines), Feb. 15: Lakshya Sen’s stunning win over Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie went in vain as the Indian men’s badminton team went down fighting 2-3 to two-time defending champions Indonesia in the semifinals to settle for a bronze at the Asia Team Championships here on Saturday.

World No. 31 Lakshya dished out a clinical performance to notch up a sensational 21-18, 22-20 win over world no. 7 Jonatan in the second singles to keep India in the hunt after B. Sai Praneeth retired following a 6-21 thrashing by Anthony Ginting in the opening game of the first singles.

Doubles pair of M.R. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila then played their heart out before going down narrowly 10-21, 21-14, 21-23 to three-time world champions and second-ranked Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan as Indonesia made it 2-1.

2018 SaarLorLux Open champion Subhankar Dey then shocked World No.20

● Indian men thus settled for their second bronze medal, having won the first one at the 2016 Hyderabad edition.

Shesar Hiren Rhustavito

21-17, 21-15 in the third singles as India once again drew level 2-2.

In the deciding second doubles, Chirag Shetty paired up with Lakshya but they were no match for the world no. 1 combination of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who took just

24 minutes to register a 216, 21-13 win and seal their place in the finals.

Indian men thus settled for their second bronze medal, having won the first one at the 2016 Hyderabad edition.

Earlier, the 18-year-old Lakshya, who had a stellar run in 2019 with five titles, showed his prowess during his straight-game win over Jonatan, who is one of the top medal contenders at the Olympic Games.