A semifinal day that began with the promise of a rare all-Indian title clash on the BWF World Tour ended with neither making it to the men’s singles final of the Macau Open Super 300. Tharun Mannepalli fought hard in his defeat against Malaysia’s Justin Hoh, but it was the lacklustre performance of Lakshya Sen in his tame loss to Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan that raised concern.
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Lakshya’s 16-21, 9-21 defeat came in just 39 minutes against 2023 World Junior Champion Farhan, while Tharun went down 21-19, 16-21, 16-21 in an 81-minute thriller.
Just under a year ago, Lakshya’s run to the Paris 2024 semifinals (and eventually the bronze medal match that he lost) prompted the legendary Viktor Axelsen to make a bold claim.
“Lakshya is an amazing player. He’s shown throughout the Olympics that he’s a very strong competitor. I am sure that four years from now, he’ll be one of the favourites to win the gold,” Axelsen had told Indian broadcasters. It was a fair claim too, given how Lakshya punched above his weight after entering the tournament unseeded.
At the Macau Open, as the second seed, Lakshya finally managed to reach a tour semifinal outside India for the first time since his Paris heartbreak, perhaps raising hopes for a similar run at the Olympic Games venue in the French capital later this month at the World Championships. But his semifinal showing lacked any sharpness as he let Farhan – Indonesia’s next big singles hope – dictate tempo from the word go.
The match began with Lakshya playing from the better side of the court and a couple of nervy errors from Farhan. The Indian went up 3-0 with a clean winner after a good flat exchange. But Farhan started to find his footing soon, a gruelling rally where Lakshya threw himself around ended with Farhan getting the point for 2-3. His smashes started causing problems for Lakshya soon, especially on the crosscourt angle.
Not at his best
At his best, Lakshya is one of the best defenders on the tour; his ability to dive and get back up quickly often helps him extend rallies. A body smash from Farhan for 10-7 was another evidence that Lakshya’s strength was not quite dialled in.
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Possibly the best point of the match was a 31-shot rally that gave Farhan an 11-7 lead in Game 1. The cross-court smash winner from Farhan was followed by a big roar for 13-9 and another brilliant body smash made it 14-10, as Lakshya struggled to string together any meaningful run. There was another extended rally of 33 shots which briefly raised hope of a Lakshya fightback when his defence clicked as Farhan made an error on the Indian’s forehand flank.
The point that perhaps confirmed it wasn’t Lakshya’s day was for 18-13 when he had Farhan on the floor with a delightful reverse-sliced drop. The Indonesian’s diving retrieval left an open court for the Indian, but he made a massive forehand error, netting the shuttle. A service fault from Lakshya gave Farhan five game points, which he duly converted to take the lead.
Tharun did well to pocket the opening game from the far side of the court, engaging Hoh in steady rallies. (Image Credit: Badminton Photo)
Early in Game 2, a 38-shot rally saw Lakshya have all the time in the world to put away a short lift from Farhan, but he hit predictably too close to Farhan’s forehand, and the Indonesian soon after put away a smash himself for 6-4. That perhaps was where the fight left Lakshya as the lead kept swelling beyond his reach.
Earlier in the day, Tharun did well to pocket the opening game from the far side of the court, engaging Hoh in steady rallies. But the Malaysian whittled down a big lead for Tharun to catch up in the latter stages, a sign that Hoh was reading the conditions better from the driftier end. That eventually played a big role in Hoh starting Game 3 better than Tharun and the Indian couldn’t overhaul the lead in the decider.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
