Mohor Chaudhuri
Lakshya Sen, one of Indian badminton’s shining stars, entered the 2025 French Open with high expectations. Despite having won innumerable accolades and dazzled fans on the international stage, Sen failed to make a mark on Tuesday against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen. His campaign ended in utter disappointment as the Indian shuttler suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of Nguyen in the men’s singles.
Lakshya struggled to find consistency and looked out of rhythm. His trademark attacking game never quite clicked as unforced errors and misjudged tosses allowed Nguyen to dominate throughout. The Irish shuttler jumped to a 5-1 lead with sharp smashes and clever placement, and Sen trailed 5-11 at the mid-game break. He was unable to recover from there, conceding the opener 7-21.
Lakshya, who had reached the finals of the Hong Kong Open not long ago, struggled right from the outset and despite showing some intent and tightening his defence in the second game, Nguyen dominated the flow of the match, leading 6-1 and then 11-5 at the break. After that, the gap only widened as he moved to 19-7, and ultimately sealed the game with a precise cross-court shot.
The 24-year-old World No. 16 from Almora had defeated Nguyen, ranked 29th, last week at the Denmark Open, but Nguyen’s sharp smashes and swift court coverage resulted in a resounding victory. This marked Sen’s 11th first-round exit of the season, highlighting the inconsistency that has haunted him since his Commonwealth Games gold in 2022.
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