Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin (Photo Djarum Badminton)
Lakshya Sen avenged his defeat at last year’s All-England badminton championships by beating Li Shifeng of China at this year’s edition.
The Indian shuttler, ranked 12th, continued his remarkable run at the prestigious tournament with a 21-13, 21-16 victory in an hour at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Lakshya, who was beaten by the sixth seeded Shifeng at the same stage last year, had also packed off top seed Shi Yuqi in the opening round.
Lakshya led by five points at the interval in the opening game only to see a strong comeback from Shifeng, who narrowed the gap to 13-15. But Lakshya upped the tempo to pick up six unchallenged points to take the game.
The second game started off with both players unwilling to give away the poinst easily. At the break, Lakshya was ahead by a single point and had to battle hard to keep his nose ahead after the restart as well. However, just as he had done in the first game, Lakshya switched gears towards the end of the second.
The 24-year-old took a 17-13 lead with a quick burst of three points and rode the momentum to seal his eighth victory over Shifeng in 15 meetings.
Lakshya, who had also made the semi-finals here two years ago and the final in 2022. will take on Canadian upstart Victor Lai in the semi-finals.
Victor had a much tougher time in his 79-minute thriller, defeating Japan’s Koki Watanabe 16-21, 21-17, 21-16.
The other semi-finals will pit Taiwan’s Lin Chun-Yi taking on second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. Chin-yi picked up an upset 21-18, 21-14 win over newly crowned German Open champion Chrito Popov of France.
As for Kunlavut, he gunned down Indonesian upstart Alwi Farhan 21-17, 21-12.
In the women’s singles draw, Korean superstar An Seyoung picked up a comfortbale 21-11, 21-14 win over Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani.
She will take on China’s Chen Yufei as she continues her defence of the prestigious All England crown.
Yufei qualified for the semi-finals defeating Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 23-21, 21-11.
The other semi-finals will see Japan’s former world champion Akane Yamaguchi taking on second seeded Wang Zhiyi of China.
There were also a couple of upsets as the tournament heads into the semi-finals.
In the mixed doubles, the French duo of Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue stunned second seeds Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin 21-16, 21-16.
In the men’s doubles, third seeded Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang were given a rude awakening as they were humbled 18-21, 12-21 by the unseeded Indonesian pairing of Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin.
