Lakshya Sen makes Canada Open Super 500 final

Mixing hard smashes with soft drops, Lakshya Sen went past Kenta Nishimoto’s strong defense to make the finals of the Super 500 at the Canada Open. The fast shuttles at Calgary offered a tricky setup, but Sen negotiated the conditions well to reach his first final of the year.

While Sen has had some good wins over top players – including against Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the opener at Calgary, it was important on his comeback trail while hunting for form to make finals of a



tournament, and he did it with a comfortable looking 21-17, 21-14 win over the Japanese Top 20 shuttler.

Played on an ice hockey rink converted into a badminton arena, the flooring combined with the shuttle flight at that temperature offered a tricky mix of conditions. “Conditions are such that if you are not careful, the game can slip out of your hands in a matter of moments with 5-6 points gone. Lakshya stayed mentally switched on throughout,” coach Anup Sridhar would say.