Lakshya Sen beats reigning All England champion Feng to win Canada Open: Watch

Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen dished out a badminton masterpiece to clinch his second BWF Super 500 title with a straightgame win over Li Shi Feng of China in Canada Open finalThe 21yearold from Almora who had claimed his maiden Super 500 title at the 2022 India Open mixed incredible speed and power to outshine reigning All England champion Feng 2118 2220 in a thrilling summit clashComing into the Olympic qualification year it was tough as things didnt go my way So this win will be a big boost to my confidence Sen told PTI after the winI had to dig deep in some matches the conditions were different and getting used to it was important the ace shuttler saidThis was Sens first title since claiming his maiden gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in August last year He is also the second singles player from the country to win a title this year following HS Prannoys victory at Malaysia Masters in MayAlso Read Lakshya Sen gets Matthews to help him at All England ChampionshipsSen gave ample display of his temperament as he saved four game points in the second game to grab a championship point and sealed it on very first opportunity with a smash and collapsed on the court in relief and happiness after an intense matchThe duo played some extraordinary rallies filled with fastpaced exchanges at the net and it was Sen who kept things tight to notch up his fifth win in seven meetings against the ChineseCongratulations to lakshya_sen on a phenomenal performance at the CanadaOpen2023 Coming back from 4 points down in the second game to win in straight games is simply SENsational Splendid display of resilience and skill by our Champ An incredible week forhellip pictwittercomKpy2WE3oMlmdash Anurag Thakur ianuragthakur July 10 2023This win will be a muchneeded boost for Sen who had slipped to world No 19 after struggling to find his form early in the seasonA former world No 6 Sen who claimed bronze at the 2021 World Championships had undergone nose surgery for a deviated septum after the World Championships last August and took a lot of time to recover posttreatmentIn a battle of power and precision between the two youngsters it was Sen who showed better control and temperament to come up trumps against the world No 10 from ChinaSen kept it tight at the net and produced a series of downtheline and crosscourt smashes to trouble Li Shi Feng who fell behind 26 at the start of the opening gameThe duo played a highspeed game with both dishing out some eyecatching jump smashes While Li sent down two 390kmph smashes Sen unleashed a couple of 400 kmph thunderboltsAt the midgame interval Sen managed to hold a threepoint cushion after Li failed to negotiate a body return from the Indian Lakshya defeated reigning All England winner s Li Shi Feng to clinch the title badmintonphotoCanadaOpen2023IndiaontheRiseBadminton lakshya_sen pictwittercom4DIFquYoBKmdash BAI Media BAI_Media July 10 2023Both the players sent down a series of hard smashes from the back to gather points but unforced errors saw Li fall back at 1215 He managed to level par at 1515 but Sen managed to grab three game points with another trademark straight smashAnother precise return on his opponents forehand helped him to earn the bragging rightsThe Chinese waited for his opportunity engaging Sen in some sensational rallies at the net and pounced on anything weak from the Indians He grabbed the momentum after an initial duel which left them at 55 to soon enter the break with a fourpoint leadWith Li winning the net battle Sen tried to change his tactics and made it 1314 at one stage But the Chinese managed to move ahead and grabbed four game points with a powerful return which Sen miscuedHowever Sen showed his grit as a forehand body smash was followed by another hard smash Li then faltered at the net and Sen followed it with another smash to level the scoreAnother rally ended with a precise return on Lis forehand as it was advantage Sen and he sealed it with another powerpacked smash in the endWith PTI inputs