It takes something special to knock out a world champion. On Tuesday, an unseeded but determined Lakshya Sen came up with a scintillating performance to dethrone Shi Yu Qi 23-21, 19-21, 21-17 in the opening round of the All England Championships in Birmingham.The 2022 finalist ousted the Chinese world No. 1 in an energy-sapping onehour, 18-minute contest.
Both shuttlers tested each other with several fast-paced rallies and breathtaking drops. Lakshya was up 18-12 in the first game but Shi fought back to reduce the deficit to 17-18 and saved five game-points before Lakshya had the last laugh with a smash winner.In the second game, Lakshya was down 13-19 but won the next five points. A stunned Shi managed a down-theline smash to move to game point. At 18-20, Lakshya saved one game point with a cross-court smash that was recorded at 346 kph. But Shi came up with a body smash to push the contest into the decider.Despite battling hard for an hour, both players showed no signs of fatigue as the third game was also played at breakneck speed.Lakshya secured a two-point lead at the change of courts (11-9). He then came up with a four-point burst from 12-11. That crucial (16-11) lead helped Lakshya to power ahead to 20-16. All Shi could do was save a game point before hitting the shuttle long. This is Lakshya’s second victory against Shi in six meetings.Lakshya will face Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, who beat Canada’s Brian Yang, in the pre-quarterfinals on Wednesday.The mixed pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto registered a 21-17, 21-19 victory against Hoo Pang Ron and Cheng Su Yin of Malaysia. They next face seventh seeds Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong.In the women’s singles, Malvika Bansod lost 11-21, 6-21 to Chinese third seed Chen Yu Fei.
