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India's Lakshya Sen overcame the disappointment of missing out on four match points in the second game to dominate the decider against Hong Kong's NG Ka Long Angus to reach the quarterfinals of the All England Open 2026 here on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Indian, who has upset top seed and defending champion Shi Yu Qi in the opening round, prevailed over NG 21-19, 21-23, and 21-10 in an hour and 21 minutes, as per a press release from the Badminton Association of India (BAI). This was also Sen's first win over NG in their four meetings, though the last time they faced each other was back in the 2023 Malaysia Masters. Sen, the 2022 All England finalist, began aggressively against his Hong Kong opponent and kept his nose ahead throughout the opening game. NG, however, drew level at 19-19 after winning three straight points, but Sen took the next two to pocket the game. It looked like Sen would breeze through the second game when he opened up an 11-4 lead, but NG slowly but surely crawled back in the match. The experienced campaigner from Hong Kong saved three straight match points from 17-20 and then saved another at 20-21 but taking the match in the decider. But Sen seemed determined to not let go of another opportunity as he took control of the game early with powerful cross-court smashes, and though NG saved one match point at 20-9, the gap was too big for him to recover. Sen, the only Indian left in singles, will now face the winner of the match between sixth seed Li Shi Feng of China and Nhat Nguyen of Ireland. (ANI)
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