Lakshya Sen vs Viktor Axelsen, Paris 2024 Olympics badminton
Lakshya Sen is on the cusp of history as he faces Danish superstar Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals of the men’s singles badminton event at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Sunday.
The Lakshya Sen vs Viktor Axelsen Paris 2024 Olympics men’s singles badminton semi-final match starts from 12:00 PM IST and will be live streamed and telecast in India.
Lakshya is the first male shuttler from India to reach the semi-finals at the Summer Games.Irrespective of the result of Sunday’s match, Sen is guaranteed a medal match at Paris 2024. A win will see him advance to the final and play for gold while a loss will see him enter the bronze medal match against the other losing semi-finalist.
Only two Indian badminton players, PV Sindhu (silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020) and Saina Nehwal (bronze at London 2012) have medalled at the Olympics to date.Lakshya, if he medals, will also become the first Indian men’s badminton player to stand on an Olympic podium.
A win against Axelsen in the semis will confirm a historic medal for Lakshya but toppling the reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1 will be anything but easy.
Lakshya Sen vs Viktor Axelsen head-to-head record
Furthermore, Lakshya, the current world No. 22, doesn’t have the best head-to-head record against the Axelsen, having won just once in eight meetings against the Dane.
The Indian shuttler’s solitary win against his Danish counterpart came at the 2022 German Open semi-finals, where he won 21-13, 12-21, 22-20.
The only other time Lakshya has managed to stretch Axelsen to three games was in the first round of the 2024 Singapore Open earlier this year. It was also the last time the two players met on a badminton court.
However, Lakshya can take heart from the fact that he has already defeated two big-name opponents against whom his head-to-head record was not favourable en route to the top four at Paris 2024.
He brushed aside world No. 3 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, also the reigning All England champion, in straight games to top his group before coming from behind to best Chinese Taipei ace Chou Tien-chen in the quarters.
Heading into Paris 2024, Lakshya trailed Christie 4-1 and Chou Tien-chen 3-1 in head-to-head records.
In the round of 16, Lakshya overcame compatriot HS Prannoy, who is placed nine places above him in the men’s singles badminton rankings.
Top seed Axelsen, meanwhile, is yet to drop a single game in his Paris 2024 campaign so far. After cruising through his group with ease, the Super Dane had little trouble in dispatching Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew, a former world champion, in the quarters.
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