Lakshya Sen gave a historic performance and became first in Indian men’s badminton. In a thrilling three-game win against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-Chen in the quarter-final at Paris Olympics 2024, Sen reached where no Indian male shuttler has gone before. Lakshya is now the first Indian male shuttler and third Indian overall after PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal to enter badminton singles semi-finals at the Olympics. He is close to win from a medal. Before Lakshya, Kidambi Srikanth (2016) and Parupalli Kashyap (2012) had entered the quarter-finals at the Olympics. Sen is India’s only remaining hope for a badminton medal from Paris Olympics.
Previously, Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara made history by becoming the first Indians to reach the semi-finals in mixed-team archery at the Olympics. They couldn’t get a first ever Olympic medal in the sports for India as they lost the bronze medal match to USA’s Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison. Ankita and Dhiraj had earlier lost in the semis to South Korea’s Lim Sihyeon and Kim Woojin, who went on to win the gold medal.
