Last Updated: July 10, 2023, 07:59 IST
Lakshya Sen clinched the Canada Open 2023 beating Li Shi Feng of China in the final at Calgary on Sunday. The Commonwealth Games Gold medalist from India got the better of the All England champion 21-18, 22-20.
Ahead of the final, Lakshya had a 4-2 head-to-head record against his Li Shi Feng, with Lakshya having had defeated him recently at the Thailand Open.
In the first round, Lakshya had to dig deep to stun second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-18 21-15 and in the second round defeated Brazil’s Ygor Coelho de Oliveira 21-15, 21-11. Lakshya was made to work hard by his German opponent Julien Carraggi in the third round but pravailed 21-8, 17-21, 21-10. In the semi-final, Lasksya vanquished Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21-17, 21-14.
It was, in fact, Lakshya’s first summit clash of the year having last played a final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August 2022 and also his second appearance in the final of BWF World Tour Super 500 event.
The 21-year-old slipped out of top-10 with a slew of first round exits this year. The 19-ranked Lakshya has suffered first-round exits in four events with his best performance being the Indonesia Masters in January where he reached the quarter-finals.
Sen has been is battling to regain form after he underwent a nose surgery for a deviated septum after the World Championships last August. The surgery was followed by frequent illness and allergies for over eight months.
The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300.
One other category of the tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers ranking points.
(With inputs from Agencies)
