4 min readMar 8, 2026 12:01 AM IST It is not something you see often in a badminton match. At the final change of ends in the decider against Victor Lai, Lakshya Sen lay down on his back on the floor near his bench as his coach Yoo Yong Sung and physio Satej furiously massaged his legs. He had a lead to protect and the willpower to win, but the body was starting to act up out of sheer exertion from all the epic rallies they had been contesting. At one point after play resumed, when he was rightly shown a yellow card for delay, the chair umpire told Lakshya ‘continue playing or retire’. But somehow, Lakshya found reserve fuel in his tank, started attacking early during rallies and came through an extraordinary 97-minute clash to book his place in the All England final for a second time. “Starting of the third set, I could feel a bit of cramps in the legs and I didn’t know if I could go all the way,” Lakshya …