Lakshya beats Canada's Victor Lai to enter All England Open final

Birmingham, Mar 7 (PTI) Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen stormed into the All England Open Badminton Championships men's singles final with a hard-fought win over Victor Lai of Canada in the semifinals here on Saturday.

The 12th ranked Sen beat world number 16 Lai 21-16 18-21 21-15 in the match that lasted one hour and 37 minutes.

Lai had won a bronze medal in the world championships in Paris last year.

This will be Sen's second final appearance in the prestigious tournament, having finished runner-up in 2022.

Sen, who continued his dream run in the BWF Super 1000 tournament, will face Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-Yi in the final on Sunday.

Chun-Yi beat world number two Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the other semifinal on Saturday.

Sen had beaten China's world No. 6 Li Shi Feng in straight games in the quarterfinals on Friday. He had stunned world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi of China in the first round. PTI PDS PDS APS APS