Lakshya Sen’s stunning win over Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie went in vain as the Indian men’s badminton team went down fighting 2-3 to two-time defending champions Indonesia in the semifinals to settle for a Bronze at the Asia Team Championships here on Saturday.
World No 31 Lakshya dished out a clinical performance to notch up a sensational 21-18, 22-20 win over world No 7 Jonatan in the second singles to keep India in the hunt after B Sai Praneeth retired following a 6-21 thrashing by Anthony Ginting in the opening game of the first singles.
Doubles pair of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila then played their heart out before going down narrowly 10-21, 21-14, 21-23 to three-time world champions and second-ranked Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan as Indonesia made it 2-1.
2018 SaarLorLux Open champion Subhankar Dey then shocked world No 20 Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 21-17, 21-15 in the third singles as India once again drew level 2-2.
In the deciding second doubles, Chirag Shetty paired up with Lakshya but they were no match for the world No 1 combination of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who took just 24 minutes to register a 21-6, 21-13 win and seal their place in the finals.
Indian men thus settled for their second Bronze medal, having won the first one at the 2016 Hyderabad edition.