Lakshya-Sen (1)

Picture Credit: Twitter

India's young prodigy Lakshya Sen could not bring his best in the final of the All England Championship as he faced a heartbreaking straight-game loss against top-seeded and reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the men's singles final on Sunday. Sen displayed sensational performance in the game earlier, but the 20-year-old faltered on the cusp of history as he committed too many errors to go down 10-21, 15-21 in a lop-sided summit clash that lasted 53 minutes at the Barclaycard Arena.

Post-match, Sen confessed that he made too many errors in the first set. He said, "I played him earlier, but today he was rock solid in attack and defence. His patience was at best, and he played a perfect game. In the first set, I committed many errors, which cost me the game. Even in the second game, he was too solid for me to put the shuttle down."

A week back, Sen had registered his first win over former world champion Axelsen en route to his final appearance at the German Open. Still, he could not sustain his craft on Sunday as his quality rival returned the favour, claiming his fifth overall win against the Indian.

Despite the loss, it has been a creditable performance from Sen, as he has already risen to fame by joining the elite list of Indian players reaching the elite championship final. Sen received massive praise from all walks of society and even master blaster Sachin Tendulkar wished him great luck for the future and suggested him, to keep his head high.

Check out Sachin Tendulkar's tweet here:

On Saturday, Sen became only the fifth Indian after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980, 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) to reach the final of the prestigious tournament after defeating champion Lee Zii Jia in a gruelling semi-final.

For Axelsen, winning at All England Championship is his second title after the 2020 title win, while Japan's Akane Yamaguchi won the women's singles crown, beating South Korea's An Seyoung 21-15 21-15 in the final.