Lakshya Sen puts on a brave show despite being drained, falling to Lin Chun-Yi in the All England final | Cricket News – The Times of India

It was so close again for Lakshya Sen. Half fit, he did everything he could. But his body failed him during Sunday’s title clash at the All England Championship in Birmingham. In a 57-minute match marked by fast rallies and ruthless attacking play, he lost 15-21, 20-22 to Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei.Playing his second All England final after finishing runner-up in 2022, the 24-year-old Indian appeared to have recovered well after Saturday’s grueling semi-final win over Canada’s Victor Lai, but blisters on his right foot clearly hampered his movement. His inability to dive down the right flank was cleverly exploited by his left-handed opponent and it was clear that the Indian was soon running out of steam – the consequences of a total of five hours and eighteen minutes on court during the tournament.

As his mentor Vimal Kumar had said before the match, Lakshya was 100% mentally strong but his body was only 60% fit.Lakshya was gutted. “I’m quite emotional now when I think about the match,” he said later. “It was a good match. In the first set he was a better player. I could have finished the second set better. But I am happy with the way I played all week.”“My physical condition wasn’t ideal, but to be honest, when I was playing, I wasn’t thinking about anything other than doing my best on the field. Yesterday I was struggling with cramps. Although I was given some time to recover, I couldn’t recover 100%,” he added.It was Lin the entire first set. The India Open champion started with a 1-4 lead and had a two-point lead at halftime (11-9).The left-hander from Taipei targeted Lakshya’s right side and collected some points after the break. He extended the lead to 15-10 with the help of some powerful cross-court hits off Lakshya’s forehand.Although Lakshya narrowed the margin to 13-16, Lin took the lead to 19-14. Lin’s plan was simple. Move Lakshya all over the field during each rally and go for the kill once the Indian is tired.Lakshya showed glimpses of a comeback in the second game. He hit some brilliant smashes and executed some breathtaking drops to take the lead for the first time in the match.As Lakshya widened the gap to 8-4, Lin looked tense and made some unforced errors as the Indian moved to 10-5. But the Taipei shuttler recovered in time and regained momentum to overtake the Indian at 14-14. After that it was too close to call.At 18-18, Lin played a brilliant round-the-head shot, Lakshya responded with a smash to make it 19-19. Lakshya saved a match point at 19-20, but at 20-21 he misread a return and hit the shuttle wide.Lin became the first shuttler from Chinese Taipei to win the All England singles title. It was shortly after compatriots Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan became the first unseeded duo to lift the All England mixed doubles crown.