German Open: Lakshya Sen Loses to Kunlavut Vitidsarn in Final

India’s Lakshya Sen lost to three-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the men’s singles final at the German Open 2022 on Sunday.

The young badminton sensation went down to the world number 20 from Thailand 18-21, 15-21 in 58 minutes at the BWF World Tour Super 300 event in Muelheim.

World number 12 Sen came into the match with a 3-3 head-to-head record against Vitidsarn, ranked 20th, having beaten the Thai in their last meeting at Hylo Open last year.

In a battle of equals, Sen and Vitidsarn matched each other in speed in the rallies to move 4-4 before the Thai rode on his variations and deception to grab a comfortabe 11-6 lead at the break.

Sen worked up his pace and took control of the net to make it 15-16 but an alert Vitidsarn managed to grab two game points with a overhead cross-court drop. Sen needed medical attention for a blister on his foot even as the Thai came up with a cross court smash to pocket the opening game.

The gruelling semifinal against Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen seemed to have taken a toll on Sen as Vitidsarn jumped to a 7-3 lead in the second game before moving to a 11-5 advantage after the change of sides.

The Indian needed the doctor’s attention again as he fought his way back with four straight points but Vitidsarn managed to move to 19-15 and then took five match points before sealing the second game and the match in the first chance.

Sen had won two Super 100 titles — Dutch Open and SaarLorLux Open — besides three international challenge at Belgium, Scotland and Bangladesh in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic came in the way of his progress.

Last year, the youngster made it to the semifinals at Hylo, reached the knockout stage at World Tour Finals on debut before sizzling at the World Championships with a bronze.

Lakshya, the World Championship bronze medallist who was the only Indian shuttler left in the fray in this event, had come up with a brilliant performance in the semi-final to get the better of the World No 1 Viktor Axelsen in a hard-fought battle that lasted for over an hour.

The 20-year-old Indian beat Axelsen 21-13, 12-21, 22-20 to set up a summit clash with Kunlavut, who defeated Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 21-13, 21-12 in a one-sided encounter.

In the quarterfinals, Sen had seen off fellow Indian and former top 10 player HS Prannoy 21-15 21-16. On Thursday, Sen had notched up a stunning 21-7 21-9 win over fourth-seeded Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a second-round match.

(With inputs from PTI)

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