Lakshya loses three-game thriller as India trail China 0-1 in Thomas Cup Finals

HORSENS (DENMARK): Lakshya Sen fought hard but went down in a three games to world No. 7 Li Shi Feng to leave India trail 0-1 against China in their final Group A tie of the Thomas Cup Finals here on Wednesday.

 Lakshya, who had beaten Li en route to a runner-up finish at the All England Championships last month, could not replicate that form in the decider, going down 19-21 21-8 12-21.

India will now look to level the tie through the world No. 4 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who face world No. 5 duo Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.

In the remaining matches, Ayush Shetty will take on Weng Hong Yang, while the doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun will meet He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu.

Lakshya vs Li

Lagging behind 3-6, Lakshya mixed his attack with a cross-court slice and a sharp smash before clawing back as Li went wide. The two traded steep smashes before Li capitalised on a series of weak lifts to move ahead 10-8 and carry a slender advantage into the break.

Lakshya erased the deficit after the interval and edged ahead 14-13, but the contest turned into a tight slugfest with both players locked at 19-19 before Li produced two decisive points to take the opening game.

The second game was one-way traffic as Lakshya raced to 5-0 and then 11-2, aided by a string of unforced errors from Li. The Indian maintained relentless pressure to force a decider.

In the third game, Lakshya trailed 1-4 but recovered to 7-7. However, Li opened up a cushion at the interval after forcing errors from the Indian.

Lakshya briefly threatened at 10-12 after winning a long rally with a precise cross-court return, but repeated errors on his smashes allowed Li to regain control. 

The Chinese shuttler stretched the lead to 17-12 and soon earned eight match points, converting the opportunity with a clinical cross-court smash.