“I tried everything,” Lakshya Sen said after a draining week in Birmingham, his voice heavy with emotion after narrowly missing out on the All England Open 2026 title.
The Indian shuttler finished runner-up after going down 21-15, 22-20 to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi in the men’s singles final on Sunday, bringing an end to a spirited run at one of badminton’s most prestigious tournaments.
Sen had spent more than five hours on court during the week leading up to the final and was visibly battling fatigue by the time he stepped onto the court for the title clash. Lin capitalised on the slow start, attacking Sen’s lifts and punishing anything short to take the opening game 21-15.
“I think it was a good match today. In the first set, he was the better player,” Sen admitted later. He was talking to BWF after the final.
But the Indian found another gear in the second game. Raising the tempo of the rallies and forcing mistakes from Lin, Sen strung together six straight points from 3-4 to surge ahead 9-4.
The match then turned into a tense battle of endurance as Lin gradually clawed his way back by engaging Sen in longer rallies.
Despite the physical toll, Sen kept fighting. At 20-19, with Lin holding a match point, the Indian produced one last push to save it and force deuce, drawing loud cheers from the crowd inside the arena.
“The second game, I maybe could have finished off better,” Sen reflected. “But overall, I’m happy with the way I played throughout the week.”
Lin, however, held his composure in the closing moments and eventually converted his second match point to clinch the title, becoming the first men’s singles player from Chinese Taipei to win the All England Championships.
Sen later revealed that he had not been at full fitness heading into the final, having struggled with cramps during the semifinal and a blister on his foot.
“It wasn’t ideal, to be honest. Yesterday I was struggling a bit with cramps and, I had some time to recover, but I couldn’t recover 100 percent,” he said. “But when I was on court, I wasn’t thinking about anything except giving my best.”
Although the title slipped away, Sen’s performance once again underlined his standing among the world’s top players. For India, however, the wait for another men’s singles champion at the All England continues, with the last triumph coming 25 years ago when Pullela Gopichand lifted the title in 2001.
