Lakshya Sen was pitted against World No.1 Shi Yuqi in the first round of the Badminton World Championships 2025. He put up a strong fight but lost the opener to the Chinese top-seed 21-17, 21-19 in a clash that lasted for 54 minutes.
Indian star shuttler Lakshya Sen bowed out of the Badminton World Championships 2025 after suffering an opening-round loss to World No.1 Shi Yuqi on Monday, August 25. Sen put up a valiant show, but fell short to the top seed 21-17, 21-19 in a clash that lasted for 54 minutes.
Sen was pitted in a tough draw at the Worlds with Yuqi up against him in the first round, with the likes of Kodai Naraoka, Loh Kean Yew, Li Shifeng, and Alex Lanier also slated in his half.ย
Sen, who had defeated Yuqi once before, had put up a strong show but could not find enough to get past the Chinese. Yuqi was stronger than Sen on his attacking strokes and also turned down the Indian’s defensive blocks with a brilliant game. Yuqi displayed his big smashes with brilliance and denied Sen what would have been an early upset in Paris.
Yuqi clinched the opening game 21-17 despite Sen being hot on his heels for major part of the opener. He led the half-way interval 11-9 after having his 10-6 lead curtailed. Yuqi raced ahead to 16-11 on resumption but the Indian staged a comeback to reduce the margin to 17-16. However, Yuqi then made no errors and clinched four of the next five points, including a 52-shot marathon rally to take the opening set.
Sen started well in the second game and led the game briefly 5-4 before he conceded the advantage. Yuqi’s big smashes were too hot to handle for Sen, who was made to move by the court all around.ย
The Chinese took the lead 11-7 at the halfway point and left the Indian playing catch-up and plenty of work to do. He led 15-10 and then 17-13 with victory in his sights. Sen made one final push to close down the lead and took the things at 19-19 with a lucky point that went in his favour.ย
At 18-19, the shuttle seemingly touched the ground when Sen lifted it, but the point was not called before Yuqi hit one on the nets. However, Sen could not make the most of his lucky point and lost 19-21 in the second game.