Lakshya Sen’s stunning win over Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie went in vain as the Indian men’s badminton team went down fighting 3-2 to two-time defending champion Indonesia in the semifinals and settled for a bronze at the Asia Team Championships here on Saturday.
World No. 31 Lakshya dished out a clinical performance to notch up a sensational 21-18, 22-20 win over World No. 7 Jonatan in the second singles to keep India in the hunt after B. Sai Praneeth retired following a 21-6 thrashing by Anthony Ginting in the opening game of the first singles.
The doubles pair of M.R. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila then played its heart out before going down narrowly 21-10, 14-21, 23-21 to three-time world champions and second-ranked Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
2018 SaarLorLux Open champion Subhankar Dey then shocked World No. 20 Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 21-17, 21-15 in the third singles as India once again drew level 2-2.
In the deciding second doubles, Chirag Shetty paired up with Lakshya but lost to World No. 1 combination of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 21-6, 21-13.
