All England Championships: Lakshya Sen pips Jonatan Christie to make quarters

After a series of setbacks in the last few months, Lakshya Sen roared into title contention by knocking out defending champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-13, 21-10 in the second round of the All England Championships in Birmingham on Thursday.
The world No. 15 Indian took just 39 minutes to oust the world No. 2. Incidentally, this is only the second time that Lakshya has ousted Christie in a major after the win in Paris Olympics last August.
But there was a setback in the men’s doubles as the famed duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out as Chirag suffered an injury. The Indians retired, trailing 16-21, 2-2 against China’s Hao Nan Xie and Wei Hang Zeng in the second round. Chirag told the chair umpire he had suffered a back injury during the match.
Earlier, Malvika Bansod and the mixed doubles combine of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani suffered losses. While Malvika lost to third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 16-21, 13-21, RohanRutvika went down to Chinese fifth seeds Yan Zhe Feng and Ya Xin Wei 10-21, 12-21.
Lakshya, however, was in imperious form. He secured a 6-1 lead and maintained the tempo throughout the first game. Christie worked hard in the second game. But from 6-6, Lakshya shifted gears. He was a t his smashing best, while Christie struggled to match Lakshya’s pace.
Lakshya went into the break with a four-point lead after hitting a powerful smash that clocked 434 kph on the speed gun. Thereafter, he reduced Christie to a mere spectator.
“It was a good match,” Lakshya said. “I was just preparing for this moment. I was happy with the way I played. I started with a good approach and am looking forward to continue this momentum,” added Lakshya, who will face sixth seed Li Shi Feng of China in the quarters.