Viktor Axelsen defeats India’s Lakshya Sen in final to clinch men’s singles title at All England Open 2022

Continuing his dominant run in the tournament, reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen on Sunday thrashed India’s Lakshya Sen in the final of the All England Open Badminton World Championships 2022 to clinch the men’s singles title. Axelsen defeated Sen 21-10, 21-15 in straight sets to bag his second All England title.

Playing his fourth straight final at the All England Open Badminton Championships, Denmark’s Axelsen was at his dominating best and ensure Sen had no answers to his attacking brilliance. After bagging his first point in the first set with a perfectly-placed down-the-line smash, Axelsen set the ball rolling in the final.

The Dane quickly extended his lead and went 6-0 up before Sen managed to draw the first blood in the game and claim his first point of the final. However, Axelsen continued to be the better of the two finalists and gave no chance whatsoever to the 20-year-old Indian prodigy as he won the first set 21-10.

Sen seemed to have found his mojo as he made a good start in the second set and kept Axelsen at the bay with some aggressive shots. The duo was tied at 4-4 before the Dane once again extended his lead to 11-5 and there was no looking back for the world no.1, who had headed into the final after a sublime run in the league matches.

While Sen produced an incredible fightback to win against defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the semi-final, Axelsen had defeated Chou Tien Chen of the Chinese Taipei in straight sets to storm into his fourth straight final at the prestigious tournament.

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Despite the loss in the final, it was a memorable tournament for 20-year-old Sen, who impressed many with his remarkable grit and ability to shun the giants of the game. Sen had become only the fifth Indian after the likes of the legendary Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand among others to enter the final of All England Open.

Had he won the final, Sen would have become only the third Indian after Padukone and Gopichand to clinch the prestigious title. Sen’s only win against world no.1 Axelsen had come at the German Open 2022 last week where he defeated the Dane in the semi-finals.