India’s highest-ranked singles player Lakshya Sen will miss the team’s 2026 Thomas Cup semi-final against France in Horsens, Denmark on Saturday.
Sen, who registered a brilliant 88-minute win in the quarter-final against Chou Tien Chen, has not been included in the line-up for the all-important tie against first-time semi-finalists France.
Instead, the rising Ayush Shetty, who has been unbeaten in the tournament, will face off against World No 4 Christo Popov in the first men’s singles match.
Veterans Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy will play the other two singles matches. While Srikanth will go up against Alex Lanier, Prannoy will face Toma Junior Popov.
Hariharan Amsakarunan-Arjun MR, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty will play the men’s doubles 2 and men’s doubles 1 respectively as usual.
Why is Lakshya Sen missing?
As per reports, Sen is not 100% fit for the semi-finals. The 24-year-old from Almora has featured in all four ties India have played in the 2026 Thomas Cup.
Three of those four matches lasted over an hour, leaving lesser recovery time.
Sen also endured a rough fall during his come-from-behind victory over Chou Tien Chen in the quarter-finals on Friday.
If he was to play, he would have have been pitted against Christo in Men’s Singles 1 in the semi-finals.
Could dropping Sen be a tactical decision?
The only possible reason for it begin a tactical reason is that the team management wants the more in-form Ayush to face off against Christo.
Ayush versus Christo as a match up could have only been possible for India only if they dropped Sen from the line-up.
This is because as per Rule 9.3 in the Regulations for Thomas and Uber Cups, “All players nominated shall be listed in order consistent with current World Rankings in singles.”
But Ayush trails 0-1 in head-to-head encounters against Christo.
Though Sen has not been at his absolute best in the tournament, he still holds a massive 6-2 advantage against Christo, which leaves an injury or fitness concern as the only plausible reason behind the move.
