Canada Open 2023 badminton: Lakshya Sen beats All England Open champ Li Shi Feng to win title
Lakshya Sen saved four game points in the second game to win his first title of the year. This was the Indian badminton player’s second BWF Super 500 title.
Badminton
India’s Lakshya Sen clinched the Canada Open 2023 badminton men’s singles title after beating the People's Republic of China’s Li Shi Feng in Calgary on Sunday.
Lakshya Sen, 19th in the badminton rankings, beat Li Shi Feng, the reigning All England champion, 21-18, 22-20 to win his first title of the year. This was also Lakshya Sen’s second BWF Super 500 title after the India Open in January last year.
The 21-year-old Lakshya Sen became the Commonwealth Games champion in August 2022 but has struggled for form since undergoing nose surgery late last year. The loss of form saw him slip to world No. 25 in rankings in March from a career-best No. 6 in December.
The match against world No. 10 Li Shi Feng was the Indian badminton player’s first BWF World Tour final since the All England Championships last year, where he lost to Victor Axelsen. Lakshya Sen has competed in 12 BWF tournaments in the 2023 badminton season.
Playing on the badminton courts of the Markin MacPhail Centre, Lakshya Sen started the match brightly. His precise cross-court smashes combined with brilliant play at the net helped him race to a 6-2 lead early in the first game.
Li Shi Feng caught up with Lakshya Sen at 15-15 but the latter unleashed a series of powerful smashes to take the next three points and eventually close the game.
Both players continued to engage in long rallies in the second game. Li Shi Feng was clinical at the net and led 10-6 at one stage. The match was heading into the decider with Li Shi Feng holding on to his four-point cushion at 20-16.
Lakshya Sen rode on a series of powerful smashes to save four game points and scored six straight points to settle the 50-minute affair. This was Lakshya’s fifth victory over Li Shi Feng in seven meetings.
PV Sindhu was eliminated after losing to eventual champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the women’s singles semi-finals on Saturday.
Indians have now won five BWF World Tour titles this year. Priyanshu Rajawat claimed the Orleans Masters in April, HS Prannoy bagged the Malaysia Masters in May and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the Swiss Open in March and the Indonesia Open in June.
The Indian badminton players will travel to the United States for the US Open BWF Super 300 tournament starting on Tuesday.
Canada Open 2023 badminton winners
- Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen (IND)
- Women’s singles: Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)
- Men’s doubles: Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN)
- Women’s doubles: Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida (JPN)
- Mixed doubles: Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito (JPN)