India’s Lakshya Sen continued his impressive run at the All England Open Badminton Championships 2026 with a straight-games win over world No. 6 Li Shi Feng of the People’s Republic of China in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Lakshya Sen, 12th in the men’s singles badminton rankings, beat Li Shi Feng 21-13, 21-16 in an hour-long affair at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
It was a sweet victory for the Indian badminton player, who was knocked out of last year’s All England Open in the quarters by Li Shi Feng.
Lakshya Sen dominated the early exchanges in the opening game and went into the first interval five points to the good. However, Li Shi Feng picked up the pace after the restart and began chipping away at the lead.
At 15-13, Li Shi Feng looked favourite to draw level and trigger a thrilling finish to the opening game. However, Lakshya worked his angles brilliantly to score six points on the trot and surged ahead in the match.
The second game started off as an intense affair with reigning Asian Games champion Li Shi Feng’s tenacity clashing with Lakshya’s guile and court awareness.
At the break, Lakshya was ahead by a single point and had to battle hard to keep his nose ahead after the restart as well. However, just as he had done in the first game, Lakshya switched gears towards the end of the second.
The 24-year-old took a 17-13 lead with a quick burst of three points and rode the momentum to seal his eighth victory over Li Shi Feng in 15 meetings.
This was also Lakshya Sen’s second victory over a top-10 Chinese opponent in the BWF Super 1000 tournament. He knocked out last year’s champion and world No. 1 Shi Yuqi in the opening round.
Lakshya Sen, who has previously reached the semi-finals at the All England Open in 2024 and the final in 2022, will face either Japan’s Koki Watanabe or Canada’s Victor Lai in this year’s semis.
Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen is also the only surviving Indian challenge at this year’s All England Open badminton tournament.
India’s top men’s doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, exited the BWF Super 1000 tournament after losing in the first round on Wednesday.
Both Malvika Bansod and Unnati Hooda also lost their respective first-round matches on the opening day of the tournament, bringing an end to India’s women’s singles campaign.
Two-time Olympian PV Sindhu had earlier withdrawn from the tournament after she was unable to make it to Birmingham in time. The Indian ace was stuck in transit in Dubai due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East.
India’s doubles charge concluded on Thursday after Olympian Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila retired from their mixed doubles match on Thursday.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/all-england-open-2026-badminton-quarter-final-report-india-lakshya-sen
