Lakshya Sen loses bronze play-off to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, India’s badminton campaign over

Lakshya Sen's service error costs him the Olympic bronze medal as Lee Zii Jia claims victory.

Serving 3-1 up in the opening game of his Olympic bronze medal encounter against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, Lakshya Sen attempted a high serve against his Malaysian opponent. Sen lifted the shuttle high trying to force a high clear from his backtracking opponent. Lee took a look at the trajectory of the projectile and simply left the shuttle as it sailed over the backline of the court.

Service errors are fleeting in men’s badminton. Lakshya had made one just four points into his match against Lee. Just a day before he had made another service error while three game points up against Viktor Axelsen. The Dane would make the most of his opportunity, save the remainder of the game points and end up winning it. He’d win the match, reach the Olympic finals and end up defending his title from Tokyo.

While Lakshya’s error had come at a critical time against Axelsen, the one against Lee had come very early on. There was enough time to recover. But the fact that he made one at all, suggested there was something in what Axelsen had said a day before about competing in the Olympics.

“These rings, they do funny things”

Indeed they do. Before the Olympic bronze medal match, Lakshya Sen had played Lee five times. He’d beaten the Malaysian in four of them including at their last encounter at the 2024 All England Championship where Lee was a former winner.

Initial service error aside, for about 30 minutes into their Olympic bronze medal match, it looked like Sen was going to coast to another win too. He had taken the first game 21-13 and was up 8-3 in the second. He had all the answers to Lee’s power. He was defending well. The Malaysian seemed at times to doubt his own judgement leaving shuttles that landed inside the court.

Then all of a sudden the momentum shifted. The Malaysian won the next 9 points in a row. Lakshya tried to mount a comeback but there was none. Lee would never trail again. He’d go on to claim the match and the bronze medal 13-21 21-16 21-11 against the Indian.