New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) India’s ace shuttler Lakshya Sen credited a mid-match change in tactics and a better understanding of the court conditions for turning around his opening-round contest against Austria’s Collins Filimon at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi on Tuesday.
After dropping the first game, the Indian regrouped to register a 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 victory in the men’s singles Round of 64 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Sen admitted that his initial game plan played into the Austrian’s strengths. Filimon, who enjoyed a significant height advantage, was comfortable in flat exchanges and took control of the rallies in the opening game.
“Yes, in the first set, I was playing very short drives. And then, when I was going in for drives, he was tall, and he was playing those shots very easily, and I was getting stuck playing those shots. So in the second set, I tried to open up the game a bit more. I took a few lifts and rallies, and then I was able to play my shots freely. Otherwise, in the first set, there were a lot of errors, and the game plan was a bit different. But I changed a few things in the second and third set, so the results were different,” Lakshya told the media after his win.
The first game had been closely contested early on before Filimon gradually pulled away to win 21-16. Sen felt he had not used the court effectively and needed to bring longer rallies into play rather than allowing the Austrian to dominate the flatter exchanges.
“The game that I was playing was not right. And I had to open up the game a bit more, get him into rallies. And in the second set, I did that, and it made the difference,” he added.
Court conditions also influenced the contest. Sen started the match on the side where the drift was stronger, making shuttle control difficult, particularly on lifts. Once he switched ends, the Indian felt more comfortable executing his plans.
“I started with the windy side. So it was hard to control the shuttle on the lift, and a lot of my lifts were going quite short. And then in the second set, I knew I was on a better end, so I could play my game freely,” he stated.
The adjustments brought immediate rewards. Sen dominated the second game 21-8 before producing an even more one-sided display in the decider, which he wrapped up 21-4 in just 14 minutes.
The Indian also highlighted the role played by the coaching staff during the match. Much of the discussion centred on handling the drift and avoiding the kind of flat exchanges that had allowed Filimon to exploit his reach in the opening game.
“Mostly about the drift and a few things to keep in mind. He was tall, so my cross lifts were going a bit short. So he was just taking advantage of it, and I had to cover the court more. They were just telling me to lift a little bit higher and not get into flat drives. Because he was tall and covered the whole court very easily. And then just being patient for my chances and creating better chances to attack,” Lakshya mentioned.
Sen’s victory came on a day when Indian badminton also celebrated one of its biggest upsets of the tournament, with Ayush Shetty defeating world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi. Sen said the entire Indian contingent had been behind the young shuttler.
“I saw the match, and it was a great victory. We were all supporting Ayush to win, and he did great. So I wish him luck for the coming matches,” he concluded.
–IANS
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