I had some time to recover, but couldn’t recover fully: Lakshya Sen after losing All England Open final
Lakshya Sen’s dream run at the All England Open Badminton Championships came to an end after the 24-year-old went down 21-15, 22-20 to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi in the men’s singles final on Sunday.
Lakshya, who had spent more than five hours on court in the run-up to the final, fought hard through the 57-minute contest against Lin but ended on the wrong side of the scoreline for the second time in an All England final.
“It was a good match today. In the first set, he was the better player, and in the second game, maybe I could have finished better. I’m happy with the way I’ve played the entire week and I’m pretty emotional right now thinking about the match, but overall, there are a lot of positives,” Lakshya said after the match.
Lakshya entered the final after a gruelling 97-minute clash against Canada’s Victor Lai. He required medical attention during the second game on Saturday to treat blisters on his right foot, and by the start of the third set, he experienced cramps in his legs and was visibly limping and struggling to move freely between points.
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“Not ideal, but when I was playing, I wasn’t thinking about anything. I wanted to give my best. I was struggling a bit with cramps yesterday, and had some time to recover, but I couldn’t recover fully. This is what I had and I gave it my all,” he said, while discussing his physical condition on Sunday.
Facing a must-win situation in the second game, Lakshya raised the tempo of the rallies and forced errors from Lin. He won six straight points from 3-4 to lead 9-4 before the eventual champion fought his way back into the contest. The Chinese Taipei shuttler dragged the tiring Lakshya into long rallies and gradually took control.
With Lin earning a match point at 20-19, Lakshya threw everything at his opponent to save the first match point, but it was not to be for the Indian as Lin sealed the title on the second match point.
Published on Mar 08, 2026