Lakshya Sen took his time to get over the missed bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. But since the second half of 2025, there is a spring in his step. The results have still been up and down, but the performances have picked up. On Thursday, after his second-round win at the India Open Super 750, when asked if he is in a better space than he has been in recent times, he responded with a big smile. “I think everyone agrees to that. Yeah, I’m in a much better space. Definitely, in terms of my game. And I’m enjoying badminton much more, I guess.” Is he doing anything off court that is helping him relax? “I am not going to tell you that,” he added with a chuckle.
A lighter, freer Lakshya took time to get going against world No 13 Kenta Nishimoto but a tactical tweak halfway through the opening game turned it around for him as he beat the Japanese 21-19, 21-10 in 50 minutes. On an otherwise bleak day for home shuttlers, where six out of seven matches ended in defeats, Lakshya was the solitary winner and keeps the Indian interest alive on quarterfinals day at the very least.
Nishimoto had taken the initial charge, due to a combination of Lakshya not quite finding his radar yet and his attempted lifts not pushing the Japanese deep enough. But during the mid-game interval, while trailing 7-11, Lakshya got the tactical inputs he needed to turn the tide. In the first rally after the break, he put more heft behind the lifts, sending the shuttle higher and closer to the backline, which meant Nishimoto couldn’t take up a midcourt position to intercept early. He had to move back twice, and both times, Lakshya backed it up by drawing his opponent forward to the net to draw the error. He would do it thrice in a 41-shot rally that he lost at 11-13 but the switch in technique had kicked in.
Lakshya Sen competes during the match against Kenta Nishimoto at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex (Express Photo | Abhinav Saha)
Still, Nishimoto stayed ahead at 16-11 and the first game seemed in his pocket but Lakshya got the crowd going with a brilliant crosscourt smash, dominated at the net next rally and started to push Nishimoto on his defence. A 402kph smash for 16-18 signalled a definite change in momentum and with the fans fully behind him now, Lakshya took the opening game 21-19 on a run of 10 out 13 points.
“I didn’t get the rhythm in the beginning, but yeah, towards the end I was feeling good on court,” Lakshya said. “At the mid-game interval, I changed the tactics. My dad (DK Sen) and the coach (Yoo Yong-sung), told me I was lifting short a little bit, so I must try and lift a little bit higher and further back. Every time I was lifting short, he was getting the weak return on the next shot, and the whole rally I was just struggling. I had to play a bit more freely on the lifts.”
Once he had the opening game in the pocket, Lakshya breezed through the second – a surprise, because Nishimoto is known for playing long, drawn-out marathons. While adjusting the length of his lifts was key to the turnaround in Game 1, Lakshya varied the pace of his rallies to never let Nishimoto settle into a slow rallying rhythm to win the second.
“Second set, it was important to again stick in there, but also vary the pace, and not to play too slow with him because he would just keep rallying, So I had to change the pace from slow tempo, just retrieving everything to then just push pace, get into the drive game and finish off quick points,” Lakshya explained. The world No 14 next faces the speedy lefty Lin Chun Yi on Friday.
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SatChi exit in three games
In a match where they never quite hit their attacking strides, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a shock exit at the hands (and quick feet) of world No. 22 Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita. Having won a marathon opening game, the Indians couldn’t close the match off, bowing out 27-25, 21-23, 19-21 in 73 minutes. The match came to a dramatic conclusion as Satwik was deemed to touch the net at 15-15 in the decider, with the referee halting the point mid-rally and awarding the point to the Japanese duo. The replay, however, clearly showed Satwik wasn’t close to the net or the post, and the Indians argued with the officials once they saw the replay on the screen. While admitting that they were well off their best and this solitary point wasn’t the reason for their loss, the world No 3 duo expressed disappointment at the decision.
Satwik & Chirag made it clear that they didn’t lose the match because of this call at 15-15 in the decider…
…but what a blunder. Satwik was nowhere near the net! Shame these things still can’t be reviewed by players when replays make it so clear. pic.twitter.com/9nHNjxfl5V
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) January 15, 2026
“I was told I touched the net. I did not feel anything. I was quite far from the post. It is not the way we wanted to lose a point,” Satwik said. “It does affect you because it was a crucial moment and it could have gone either way. Not saying it was definitely our point, but if we had won that rally it could have been a different scenario,” Chirag added.
Notable results:
Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen bt Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) 21-19, 21-10; 5-Christo Popov (Fra) bt Kidambi Srikanth 21-14, 17-21, 21-17; 3-Jonatan Christie (Ina) bt Yushi Tanaka (Jpn) 21-15, 21-19; 8-Loh Kean Yew (Sin) bt HS Prannoy 18-21, 21-19, 21-14; 2-Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Lu Guang Zu (Chn) 21-14, 21-16
Women’s singles: 1-AN Se Young (Kor) bt Huang Yu-Hsun (Tpe) 21-14, 21-9; 7-Ratchnok Intanon (Tha) bt Mia Blichfeldt (Den) 21-16, 21-11; 5-Han Yue (Chn) bt Malvika Bansod 21-18, 21-15; 4-Chen Yu Fei (Chn) bt Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 21-11, 21-13; Natsuki Nidaira (Jpn) bt 8-Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) 21-19, 8-21, 21-16
