New Delhi: An 18-year-old American shuttler silenced a packed Indira Gandhi Arena on Wednesday, stunning home favourite Lakshya Sen at the 2026 BWF World Championships.
In one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, world-ranked No. 92 Garret Tan defeated the former bronze medallist in a three-game, 73-minute-long tense battle, 21-19, 19-21, 21-17, in the round of 32.
When on match point, Lakshya’s diving retrieval presented Tan with an easy net kill; most of the crowd hoped he would miss it, and he almost did.
But the luck was with the debutant, and the shuttle landed just inside the line, sealing the biggest win of his career as he marched on to R16, ending Lakshya’s medal hopes.
Tan couldn’t believe what he had just done and dropped down to his knees with his head in his hands, while an exhausted Lakshya lay on the court in disbelief.
“I’m super happy with the win. It’s my first World Championships, and defeating such a big player means a lot,” said a jubilant Garret post his historic win.
This was Lakshya’s fifth round of 32 exit on the circuit this year, and his alarming inconsistency struck once again at the worst possible moment as he looked clueless at times against Tan.
Despite reaching the final of the All England 2026, Lakshya has failed to deliver consistently elsewhere and has now fallen victim to one of the most shocking upsets at the World Championships.
The Man Behind Lakshya’s Shocking Exit
Tan, who is originally of Chinese Taipei descent, now lives in Los Angeles. He began training at the age of eight under his current coach, Paula Lynn.
This was his second trip to India within a year, having competed at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Guwahati, where he was eliminated in the fourth round.
The former junior world No. 1 is now the talk of the town after ending one of India’s biggest medal hopes in front of a home crowd.
Today, he started as the clear underdog but never looked out of contention against the far more experienced 14th-seeded Lakshya.
Tan applied pressure from the outset, showcasing powerful smashes powered by his long reach and the good use of his excellent leap in jump smashes.
“It was a good match. I will give a lot of credit to the opponent; he played really well. he was quite dominant throughout the game, and I was playing a covering-up game,” said Lakshya about his views of the match.
In the second game, Tan continued his aggressive style, which, combined with Lakshya’s multiple errors, made it more comfortable for him.
He rattled him with his fiery shots, and Lakshya never looked like the favourite as he was the one running around the court, chasing for the shuttle.
Tan, then, earned four game-point opportunities in the game: Lakshya erased three of them but fell short on the fourth with another unforced error.
The match then entered the decider, where Tan outclassed Lakshya in the early stages. Lakshya made a poor start, offering easy kills with high lifts from the baseline.
In the decider, he raced to a massive 12-4 lead and was looking comfortable towards his miraculous victory.
However, Lakshya fought back with several diving retrievals to stay in the contest and put Tan under pressure, making him run a bit more on both sides of the court.
Tan eventually experienced a brief dip, committing several net errors as he tried different approaches. Ultimately, Lakshya missed his chances to finish points, and Tan seized the moment to close out the match.
“In the third set, I kept on hitting to one side, and he kept on retrieving, but in the last couple of points, I just changed direction, and it worked well, ” Tan explained how his plan worked for him in the dying moments.
“In the third game, we were both exhausted, and I gave my all, but it wasn’t enough,” said Lakshya after the match.
Following the contest, Lakshya skipped the press interview in the mixed zone and went straight to the medical room.
“The match was tough, and I was exhausted. There were a lot of dives, so I scratched my leg,” he commented on his injury.
Lakshya has been looked up as one of India’s medal favourites at the Olympics, but his inconsistency and lapse of concentration at times have become his biggest enemy.
Now with the conclusion of the World Championships, he will look forward to another major event of the year at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games next month.
Elsewhere, India still have one entry left in each of the five events.
