Lakshya Sen in action© AFP
India's Lakshya Sen will need to play out of his skin to keep his maiden gold medal hopes alive when he takes on the reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the men's singles semifinals at the Paris Games on Sunday. Making his Olympics debut, Sen created history on Friday after becoming the first Indian individual male shuttler to reach the last four of the showpiece with a 19-21 21-15 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in an intense quarterfinal match.
The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand when he takes on Axelsen, the baby-faced badminton giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years.
The 30-year-old from Odense, Denmark, has won the Tokyo gold and Rio bronze, two world championship titles in 2017 and 2022, a Thomas Cup triumph in 2016 and multiple BWF world tour and Superseries titles to experience a dominating run as world No. 1 from December 2021 to June 2024.
Sen, a 2021 World championships bronze medallist, has lost seven times to the super Dane, who faced defeat just once against the Indian at the 2022 German Open.
The 22-year-old, however, has shown little to no respect for the past records against his higher-ranked opponents so far as he plotted the downfall of world number 4 Jonatan Christie in the group stage and Chou, ranked 11, in the quarters.
Axelsen has looked a tad subdued this season with just one title at the Malaysia Masters. The Dane also suffered an ankle injury in early June during the Singapore Open and was forced to withdraw from the Indonesia Open.
Sen, on the other hand, hasn't looked fitter in his career. He has been rock solid in his defence as he covered the court well and played at a high pace. His ability to produce winners at will has held him in good stead.
The 1.94m-tall Dane has an all-rounded game and is known to rain down brutal smashes from a great height.
Axelsen, who received a bye in the pre-quarterfinals, had just one real challenge in the quarterfinals but he got past former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore without much ado.
In their eight meetings, only two matches have gone to three games, including the contest in Muelheim an der Ruhr.
After seeing off the speedy and consistent Chou in a gruelling three-gamer on Friday, Sen will be now backing himself to prevail if it goes the distance against the Dane.
Axelsen had robbed him of All England glory two years back when he beat him in the final. Then there were those twin losses in the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals and Sen will be itching to return the favour at the world's biggest stage.
A semifinalist gets two chances to return with a medal.
A win will keep Sen on course for Indian badminton's maiden Olympic gold, while a loss will give him a shot at the bronze medal in the play-offs.
"There's lot more work to do. Now, the real test starts," Sen had said after his quarterfinals.
For Sen, who wears "Sky is the limit" tattoo on his neck, only the gold can quench his hunger.
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