China Masters 2024: Lakshya Sen gets Paris revenge over Lee Zii Jia
In a rematch of the Paris 2024 men's singles bronze-medal match, Sen sends his Malaysian opponent packing in three games in Shenzen.
Badminton
Lakshya Sen got payback against Lee Zii Jia in a rematch of the Paris 2024 bronze-medal match, ousting him in the first round of badminton's China Masters 2024 on Wednesday (20 November).
Sen, who missed out on the Olympic men's singles podium after suffering a heart-breaking three-game defeat to Lee at the Games, made sure to finish the job this time, defeating Lee 21-14, 13-21, 21-13.
Sen is now 5-2 head-to-head versus Lee. All three games in Shenzen were relatively not close by their usual grinding standards, with whoever led early holding on to take each set.
Even in the deciding third, Lee was down 5-1 and rattled off four straight points to level the score. But Sen again pulled away after that, never looking back.
The Indian capitalised on his third match point for the last laugh. He will face either Rasmus Gemke of Denmark or Japan's Nishimoto Kenta in the second round.
Men's second seed Victor Axelsen beat Koki Watanabe in three, winning 21-17, 16-21, 21-12.
In the women's singles, India's PV Sindhu was victorious, 21-17, 21-19 over Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand.