Birmingham, March 6: Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen secured his place in the quarterfinals of the All England Open 2026 on Thursday. He triumphed over Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long in the pre-quarterfinal match. Earlier, Lakshya had caused a major upset by defeating defending champion Shi Yu Qi in the first round.
The 24-year-old Indian player won the match against Long Angus with scores of 21-19, 21-23, 21-10 after an intense battle lasting one hour and 21 minutes. This victory marked Lakshya’s first win against Angus, having lost to the Hong Kong player in their previous three encounters, including a defeat at the 2023 Malaysia Masters.
Lakshya started aggressively against his opponent, maintaining a lead throughout the first game. Although Long managed to equalize the score at 19-19 by winning three consecutive points, Lakshya clinched the game by winning the next two points.
At one point, it seemed Lakshya would easily win the second game as he led 11-4. However, Long made a remarkable comeback. The experienced Hong Kong player saved three match points when the score was 17-20 and managed to take the game to a decisive third game by winning at 21-20.
Lakshya commented, “It was a solid game in both sets. Credit goes to Long Angus for his strong comeback in the second game. I didn’t play well towards the end of that game and gave him too many easy shots. I was ready to give my all in the third game, and I’m quite happy with how I played.” Long Angus attempted to recover, saving a match point at 20-9, but the gap was too significant for him to level the score.
He added, “I think tactically my game was solid in both games, but I lost focus in the final points. I made several mistakes, but it’s crucial to forget the first two games and focus on the third, playing with the strategy that was working.” As the only Indian player remaining in singles, Lakshya will face the winner of the match between China‘s sixth seed Li Shi Feng and Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen.
