Lakshya Sen, a former junior world number one went down in straight games in the men’s singles badminton final at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires on Saturday. China’s Shifeng Li inflicted a 15-21, 19-21 loss on the 17-year old Indian in a match that lasted for just 42 minutes.
After going down 15-21 in the first match, Sen staged a good fightback in the second where he managed to save four match points to match his opponent but it was the Chinese, who reigned supreme at the end as he clinched the top prize without losing a game.
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India’s tally with this silver medal, now goes up to seven. Through his silver-medal finish, Sen also became the second Indian shuttler to win the grey metal at this very event in eight years, after HS Prannoy had done it in 2010.
Young shooting sensation Manu Bhaker clinched a silver medal to become the second Indian after judoka Tababi Devi to win two medals in the competition. She joined hands with Tajikistan’s Behzan Fayzullaev in the 10m air mixed pistol final against Germany’s Vanessa Seeger and Bulgaria’s Kiril Kirov in the gold medal match but settled for a silver at the end, losing the contest 3-10 at the end.
The German-Bulgarian duo had secured a 3-0 lead in the initial stages of the match before going on to win the match. Manu’s feat thus makes it two gold and three medals for India as their shooting campaign came to an end.
Image credit- Hindustan Times