Lakshya Sen loses final to 2nd seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, fails to retain title

Defending champion Lakshya Sen lost in the final of the Yonex Dutch Open International Challenge badminton tournament which concluded in Almere, Netherlands on Sunday.

The five-day tournament was organized by Badminton Netherlands under the aegis of Badminton World Federation.

Top seed Lakshya Sen went down to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the summit clash and had to be satisfied with the silver medal.

Second seed Loh Kean Yew shattered Lakshya’s hopes with a clinical 21-12, 21-16 win in 36 minutes.

World No. 25 Lakshya Sen was the favorite to win the title but Kean Yew turned the tables on him with an outstanding display of power and precision. Twenty-four-year-old Kean Yew used his experience to good effect to best his younger rival.

World No. 41 Kean Yew got off to a flying start and put Lakshya on the backfoot from the word go. Although Lakshya tried hard to regain some composure, he just could not catch up with the rampaging Singaporean.

Top seed Lakshya Sen performed better in the second game but it was not enough

After losing the first game quite easily 12-21, Lakshya put up a better display at the beginning of the second game. Lakshya matched his opponent and came within a point of leveling the score at 8-9.

However, a burst of seven successive points propelled the Singaporean to a huge lead of 16-8. Thereafter, it was just a matter of time before Kean Yew sealed the issue in his favor with a 21-12, 21-16 verdict.

The win also enabled Kean Yew to avenge his defeat to Sen suffered a couple of years ago. In their only previous meeting, Lakshya had beaten the Singaporean 21-12, 21-13 at the Lingshui China Masters in 2019.

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Lakshya, an employee of Indian Oil, will now travel to Odense to play in the Denmark Open which will get underway on October 19. Lakshya is supported by the Olympic Gold Quest.

India’s challenge in the women’s section ended on Saturday. Eighth seed Aakarshi Kashyap was shocked in the women’s singles semi-finals by unseeded English player Abigail Holden, while unseeded Ira Sharma was ousted in the quarter-finals.