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Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen secured third place at the King Cup International Badminton Open 2024 after defeating French opponent Alex Lanier in Shenzhen, China, on Sunday.
Sen, India's best-placed singles player at world No. 12, triumphed over world No. 18 Lanier with a 21-17, 21-11 scoreline in the third-place playoff match. The Indian badminton player advanced to the third-place match after losing to China's Hu Zhe'an, the reigning junior world champion and current world No 1, in the semi-finals. Earlier in the tournament, Sen defeated Hong Kong China's Angus Ng Ka Long in the quarter-finals. Lanier, who lost to Denmark's Anders Antonsen in the semi-finals, faced Sen in Sunday's playoff. The French player started strongly and held a slim lead at the midway stage of the opening game. However, Sen made a commanding comeback after the restart to seize control of the match. The second game was entirely dominated by the Indian shuttler. This was the first-ever clash between the two players. Hu Zhe'an and Antonsen are set to compete in the final later in the day. The King Cup International Badminton Open is a newly introduced tournament, initiated by two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China. The competition features a men's singles event with eight players participating. Notably, the King Cup does not offer ranking points and is not part of the BWF calendar. Lakshya Sen, who reached the semi-finals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, was India's sole representative in this invitational tournament. (ANI)
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