All England Open Badminton Championships 2022: Lakshya Sen walks into semis, Treesa-Gayatri stun world No. 2

Lakshya Sen became only the third Indian men’s player to enter the semi-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships 2022 singles event in Birmingham on Friday.

Lakshya Sen, ranked world No. 11, was pitted against world No. 27 Lu Guang Zu of China in the quarter-finals. However, the Indian received a walkover after his opponent pulled out at the last minute.

The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, ranked world No. 46, also moved into the semi-finals after stunning the world No. 2 duo of Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan 14-21, 22-20, 21-15.

With this win, Treesa and Gayatri become the first Indian women's pair to make the semis of All England Open.

Prakash Padukone in 1980, 1981 and Pullela Gopichand in 2001 were the only Indian men’s singles players to have made the All England Open semi-finals in the open era previously.

While Prakash Padukone finished as runners-up in 1981, the Indians went on to win the title on the other two occasions.

In the semi-finals, Lakshya Sen will take world No. 7 Lee Zii Jia, who defeated two-time world champion and world No. 2 Kento Momota 21-7, 13-21, 21-11.

Lakshya Sen has been in good form recently. After winning bronze at the world championships in December, Lakshya Sen defeated world champion Loh Kean Yew for the India Open title in January.

Earlier this month, Lakshya Sen accounted for Tokyo Olympics champion Viktor Axelsen in the German Open semi-finals and defeated world No. 3 Anders Antonsen in his last match.

In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of former All England Open champion Pullela Gopichand, moved into the semi-finals after causing an upset against South Korea’s Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan.

Both teams began the match strongly and were tied at 13-all in the first game. The South Korean duo, however, upped the ante and pocketed the first game with a comfortable margin.

The second game saw the Indian teenagers save two match points and take the game into the decider.

After the third game was tied eight-all, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who had also stunned India Open champions Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard in the opening round, took five straight points and won the match in 67 minutes.

In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost to world No. 1 pair of Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon 24-22, 21-17.

Dubbed as 'Minions’, the Indonesian pair trailed the Indians 15-20 but saved five game points to claw back and win the first game.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty played catch-up for the most part of the second game and eventually lost out on a place in the semi-finals.

Earlier, PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, suffered an upset loss to world No. 13 Sayaka Takahashi of Japan while Saina Nehwal went down fighting against the reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi in three games.

Kidambi Srikanth also crashed out after losing to Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting in a close match.