Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami Meets Lakshya Sen After Paris Olympics 2024 Near-miss

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen on Saturday to laud him for his valiant showing at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Sen gave a brilliant account of himself on the grandest of stages but fell agonisingly short of a medal and had to settle for a fourth-place finish at the quadrennial at the French capital city.

CM Dhami lauded the badminton star on his efforts representing the tricolour at the sporting extravaganza and urged him to keep his fight going in order to go on and accomplish bigger and brighter things in his discipline.

The shuttler’s parents, Nirmala Sen and D K Sen, also made the trip alongside the player to the CM’s residence.

Sen, who carried the nation’s hopes for an Olympic badminton medal, was placed in Group L in the men’s singles event and got off to a spectacular start as he breezed past the challenge of Kevin Cordon of Guatemala with a dominant 21-0, 22-20 triumph.

The Indian got the better of Belgian shuttler Julien Carraggi in his second group stage fixture with a 21-19, 21-14 win, before closing out his group engagements with an incredible win over Indonesian Jonathan Christie with a 21-18, 21-12 win.

He was pitted against compatriot HS Prannoy in the Round of 16, and the youngster got the better of the veteran with a 21-12, 21-6 triumph to secure his place in the quarters.

Sen rallied from a game down to down Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-Chen 19-21, 21-15, 21-12 in the quarterfinals of the event to move into the semis against Viktor Axelsen.

The Dane proved too strong for the Indian as Axelsen registered a 22-20, 21-14 win over Sen.

The shuttler from Almora had the opportunity to return from the Olympics with a bronze medal, but let it slip as he went down to Malaysian badminton star Lee Zii Jia despite taking the first game 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 to fall short of the podium.