Lakshya Sen sees off tricky NG Ka Long Angus to reach All England quarterfinals

Angus had fore-warned with the first rally of the match that went over 40 shots, that he was prepared to fight it out in punishing long rallies, but at 17-11 and 19-14 up in the second, Sen seemed like he would not be troubled, just a tad inconvenienced by the gritty opponent, 31 years old, and 29 in ranking. But Sen, prone to rushing in endgame, and more importantly chagrined that he wasn’t being allowed to sail, had taken the foot off the pedal in the second, and was made to pay, as Angus pushed the pace to force a decider.

AS IT HAPPENED: Lakshya Sen overcomes a spirited fightback from Ng Ka Long Angus

Denied a dozen times from such lapses in calmness rather than concentration (some might say Sen overthinks the finish), the Indian quickly made amends, and got the job done 21-10 in the decider. But it was a lesson in ‘how not to lose a lead’ – a recurrence that has cost him sets, matches, medals even. But there can’t be much to dwell on, given how well he played the match in entirety.

“Very solid game in both sets. Also credit to him. He made a solid comeback on the second. And I just didn’t play freely towards the end of the second set. And just gave too many easy shots for him to kill. But I was prepared in the third set, to go all out. Happy with how I played third,” he told the BWF.

The plan was simple. Angus finds returning the backhand shots to the back corner disconcerting. Not that he dumps them into the net always, but they ruin his rhythm. So Sen kept sending tall pushes and tosses to Angus’ backhand, as he took the lead at 11-8.

The Hong Kong shuttler can keep up in rallies, defense and even from the backhand tried to control the shuttle and return it flat, but Sen had that decisive down the line hop smash, which did the job with a well set-up placement after Angus was sent the other way.
Sen broke away at 18-15 with some stupendous back-hand fast exchanges, Korean doubles style, where defense morphs into offense at a fast clip. He was mildly incensed after running out of challenges when a toss floated and landed on the backline, and he couldn’t get it verified. But the general idea to force him on the backhand worked, as Angus messed up the next two points to give Sen the 21-19 impetus he needed.

Impatience proves costly

The Indian was sailing in the second, at 13-6, then 18-13, and it looked like Sen was stubbing out a comeback for once after taking the lead. But NG Ka Long is a tricky opponent because he doesn’t give in, and douses his overheads in deception. He didn’t use them for outright winners, because Sen is a defensive beast even on Sleep-mode, but he did play on the Indian’s impatience, and won five straight long rallies to go up to 17-19. Sen even nailed a cross court to get himself three match points. Then he wasted all three, as NG Ka Long didn’t fade away in the long ones.

At 20-20, all of Sen’s nightmare scenarios would’ve formed a neat montage. Until this point, Sen’s riposte was to attack the serve with a scathing return after Angus was recovering from a long rally. But at clutch, it was the Hong Kong player who kept the rally short and snappy pouncing on Sen’s tentative serve. From the midcourt, Sen was in control of crisscrosses. At the net, his lift lacked the height and was easy put-away for his opponent. “Tactically I was playing the right game in both sets. But last few points I didn’t stick to the plan. Gave away too many easy ones,” he told BWF.

In the third, against an opponent who was imminently beatable, Sen hunkered down, retrieved everything, cut out all flash, and simply refused to take the foot off the gas, till it was done. It was a cruise, as much as a badminton 21-point match could allow, where points didn’t come quickly, but the margin looked easy. The tried and tested, was executed. “It was important to switch off, forget the second set, and just play the third with the same gameplan,” he said.

Things stay tricky with either Chinese Li Shifeng or Nhat Nguyen shaping up for the quarterfinals. “Feeling good on court. Now time to recover and another tough match tomorrow,” Sen said.