Jonatan Christie might have been forgiven for thinking he’d won the point. Down 18-19 in the first game in his men’s singles match against Lakshya Sen in group L of the men’s singles event, he would have thought he’d just pulled level. After a furious flat exchange, he’d caught the Indian in a bad position and now he powered a drive to the wrong side of the right-handed Indian. Christie had almost started celebrating as the shuttle had nearly passed the 22-year-old Indian when at the last second Lakshya whipped his racquet behind his back and returned the shot.
Christie, almost preparing for the next point, was rushed into a shot and ended up hitting out. By conventional logic, Lakshya shouldn’t have won that point.
Game point down soon became a game down. Lakshya would make the most of the opening as he wrapped the second game in double quick time to win the match 21-18, 21-12.
It was a result that left the Indonesian walking off the court with his head bowed down in disbelief. He’d got off to a storming start, winning the first five points of the match. “I couldn’t figure out the drift in the first few minutes of the match. The drift was coming in from behind me and so Christie was just trying to pin me to the back. But once I got used to the conditions, it was a lot easier. From then onward, it was just a matter of keeping that one- or two-point lead and closing out the game,” Lakshya said.
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Indeed, that moment of brilliance aside, Lakshya wasn’t trying to do anything spectacular, playing well within his means and waiting for his opponent to make the errors. “The preparation and the strategy were in place, and we didn’t do anything extra. I just wanted to be stuck in there, keep the right length, play good shots, maybe attack. My coaches [Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar] were constantly encouraging me from behind and that made it easier for me,” he said after the match.
It’s hard to call this win an upset – Lakshya is a former world bronze medallist after all. But he was not the favourite to beat Christie. The pair had played each other five times before the Olympics, with the Indonesian winning the last four matches, dating to the start of the last season. After a dismal run of form in the second half of the previous season, Lakshya was only getting his season back on track this year — as the record of 15-10 prior to the Olympics suggests. Christie, meanwhile, was coming to Paris in red hot form as the reigning Asian and All England champion.
If there was ever a time to overcome a streak, it was on Wednesday at the Arena Porte de La Chapelle. The two had been unexpectedly paired together in Group L of the men’s singles league phase. With only the winner of the group going through to the round of 16, the match was a must-win encounter for both players.
Now that he has made his place in the last 16 by eliminating a pre-tournament favourite, Sen has all the momentum he could hope for behind him. “I think it was a tough group. I had to be at my best from the day one. [Beating a player like Christie] gives you a lot of confidence to go into the tournament,” he said. “I haven’t done well against him in our last few matches. They’ve been close and I’ve played well, but I’ve not closed them out. I’m happy with the way the momentum is going, and I would love to continue this.”
Sen was not the only Indian to confirm his entry into the round of 16. Although she didn’t have to work as hard, P.V. Sindhu, who is on the quest to win a third Olympic medal, quickly dispatched Kristin Kuuba of Estonia 21-5 21-10 in 34 minutes to confirm her place in the last 16.
Later in the day, HS Prannoy beat Vietnam’s Duc Phat Le 16-21, 21-11, 21-12.
After losing the first set following some uncharacteristic unforced errors, the 13th-seeded Indian bounced back to win the next two sets comfortably.
The 32-year-old Indian will face compatriot Lakshya Sen in the next round.
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