India’s rising badminton talent Lakshya Sen on Sunday created history as he went on to bag the gold medal in men’s singles competition at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2018 in Jakarta. The 16-year old defeated the top seed and the World No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in straight games 21-19, 21-18 to bag the top honour at the event.
The gold medal win is Sen’s biggest win in his career as the world number nine became the first Indian to win the medal at the competition in six years. He also became the first individual in 53 years to win the medal in men’s singles event. Sen, who was seeded sixth in the event, joins Gautam Thakkar and PV Sindhu to become the third shuttler to win the junior Asian championship. While Sindhu had won the tlte in 2012, Thakkar had won the gold medal all the way back in 1965.
Sen had to go past some of the strong competitors on his way to title triumph. The young shuttler defeated 2nd seed China’s Li Shifeng 21-14, 21-12 in the quarterfinal, and then had to beat 4th seed Ikhshan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay 21-7, 21-14 to reach the final.
Sen, who is a former world No. 1, had won a bronze at the same event. He had lost to China’s Sun Feixiang 21-12 21-16 in Bangkok in the semifinals.