Badminton World Championships: As Lakshya Sen exits Paris, a definitive sign that a major shakeup is needed to reboot his career

A 21-17, 21-19 scoreline for 54 minutes against World No Shi Yuqi is huge props for how well Sen fought to survive, but Korean coach Yoo Yong-sung would know he was nowhere close to even taking a lead against the Chinese World No 1. So it ended up as a Round 1 loss, borne out of not being equipped to win rallies, with not a smidgen of a bright idea visible as Sen faltered. He didn’t even take breaks, or deploy a reset ritual, or slow things down to catch a breather, collect his thoughts, and think the next point through to flip the momentum, that could explain the 54 minutes.

Only flashes

There were exactly two winners in that match, that offered a glimpse of how good Sen used to be, and where his game ought to go: those were to reach 15-17 in the second set, and then 16-17, and they were entirely Sen having had enough of his own misery, and breaking free with audacity. Everything else made him look like a stepping stone in Yuqi’s march to world title ambitions, while reduced to reacting, with no play of his own.

Lakshya Sen in action at the BWF World Championships 2025 in Paris, France (Picture Credit: BWF/Badminton Photo)

There was an inevitability to the Yuqi straight smash, neatly landing next to the sideline. Sen, with plenty of back troubles, couldn’t pivot fast enough to go across and get the backhand in each time. He might get to it 9 times, but there was always the 10th looming around the corner, that his torso couldn’t torque up to. The mistake, of course, was on the previous return, giving Yuqi the elevation to smash with gusto. But compulsive retrieving can’t censor the lifts to that extent. Not even the best defensive shuttler could have staved off that 10th howitzer, grazing the lines.

Compounding his problems was Sen’s inability to find the lines precisely himself, as he sprayed his smash, and allowed Yuqi’s lead to balloon. He was managing to push the Chinese back if he took control of the net, but he lingered too long and laboured too hard to finish the kills, and looked strangely lulled to take initiative. A sideways drift froze the shuttle for both players, making them tentative on net kills, but Sen – who can summon the sharpness – resisted the risk.

He almost needed to trail by a bunch of points to be jolted awake for starters. And then the point at 17-19 in the opener, perhaps led him down the wrong assumption that it was prolonged exchanges that would draw mistakes out of the Chinese. But Yuqi has won every three out of the four Super 1000 tournaments this year, and is 9/9 clutch in big finals over last 16 months. In a match full of 40+ shot long rallies, Sen 16-19 then cleverly decelerated with tosses to frustrate Yuqi to make it a 2-point set. But he was mistaken in believing Yuqi would fall for the same trap the next time. Long rallies, fantastic defense weren’t the right answer to begin with.

Coach and father DK Sen correctly judged after the first set that Yuqi was relying on his cross courts to upstage, tire out, and generally disorient Sen. Neither he nor Yong-sung had an antidote, though.

Sen once again went from 7-11 to 9-14 to 13-15, using the last possible opportunity in long rallies to pick points, delaying the kill. And he once again awoke at 14-17 and played the OG Lakshya Sen game: a prancing, fast, explosive stride at the net to scythe for 15-17, and a reflex tap while on his knees to pass Yuqi that got him the applause. He had the lead whittled to 18-19 with another accelerated, speedy sizzle to the net, where he looked hungry to attack the shuttle.

That’s when wicked fate struck – Sen got wrongly lucky.

Deeply immersed in his defensive shift, Sen picked up a clearly bounced shuttle on the line, and the return sailed over the net. Yuqi couldn’t challenge and was livid, replays showing it had bumped too. Sen knew. The Chinese, full of righteous rage, took the next two points with vengeance. And just like that, it was over in Paris for Sen. He seemed to clear the air with the Chinese when they shook hands on the bumped return, but not unlike the Olympics semifinal against Viktor Axelsen, or the bronze playoff against Lee Zii Jia, he will have to stay content with “Well played, better luck next time” platitudes.

Sen over the last two years is visibly different; he doesn’t jump higher, or move faster or walk with a swagger, like before. There’s a dip just when he ought to have built upon the 4th place finish at the Olympics. Losses just don’t cut it, even against the World No 1. To misquote Emily, “It’s Paris. Everyone’s serious (only) about the winner.”