Lakshya Sen at Paris Olympics 2024 Highlights & Score: Lakshya wins his first match in consecutive games, gets the better of Kevin Cordon with a scoreline of 21-8, 22-20

Lakshya Sen at Paris Olympics 2024 Highlights: Lakshya Sen begins his Olympics campaign with a straight games win against Kevin Cordon. Follow Sportskeeda for live updates on Lakshya Sen at the Paris Olympics 2024

Lakshya Sen has started on a winning note against the WR-41 Kevin Cordon. He breezed past his opponent in the first game and made a remarkable comeback to claim the match in straight sets. Up next for him would be Belgium's Julian Carragi in two days time. Badminton action continues as the dynamic duo of Satwik-Chirag are in action shortly, follow it here. For all the updates regarding the Indian athletes at Olympics, keep following us here.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 22 - 20 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Lakshya Sen finishes off the match is two straight sets. Uses the flick serve to set up the point and then kills it with a smash right into the body of Cordon. This has been a remarkable comeback from him in the second game. He had 4 game points against him at 16-20 but then he went on a run of 6 consecutive points and closed the door on Kevin Cordon.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 21 - 20 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Cordon hits it wide and reviews unsuccessfully to give Lakshya Sen a match point opportunity which did not seem possible a few minutes back.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 20 - 20 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Lakshya kills the point at the net and with 4 consecutive points he has brought this game to deuce out of nowhere. We have a thrilling second game on our hands.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 18 - 20 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Lakshya has managed to save two game points out of the four, can he save two more and force extra points?

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 16 - 20 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - And just like that, another unforced error at the net by Sen and now Cordon has 4 game point opportunities to make it 1-all.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 13 - 17 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Lakshya is making a comeback but Cordon is doing just enough to keep himself adrift and is moving towards a 1-game each scoreline.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 10 - 15 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Cordon is maintaining his healthy lead in the second game even as he loses a review in hope rather than in desperation. Lakshya seems to be making many more errors and he needs to rectify it.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 7 - 11 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Excellent reflexes at the net as he brings his racquet just up in time for the shuttle to make contact and fall into Cordon's half and Sen has a point to start off after the mid-game break.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 6 - 11 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - This has been a terrific comeback from Cordon as he goes into the mid-game interval of the second game with a 5-point lead. Sen wanted a smash winner in the last point but it ended up going wide and errors like those have been a story of the second game with Cordon showing much more resistance.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 5 - 8 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - This is a much better show from Cordon in the second game and he is making Sen work hard for the points which in turn is leading to unforced errors from the Indian.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 5 - 6 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - Lakshya's defense was tested by Cordon as he fell down to the ground but rose up back to claim the point and now has reduced the 4-point margin to just one has Sen.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 2 - 6 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8] - This has been a much improves show from Cordon as he hits one into the body of Sen from the net to claim a 4-point lead early in the second game. With each point, Cordon seems to be getting confident and is egging himself with aggressive fist pumps.

Game 2: Lakshya Sen (IND) 0 - 1 Kevin Cordon (GUA) [Game 1: 21-8]- Lakshya starts off with a service error and it is Cordon who gets the first point of the second game. He needs to have a good run here.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 21 - 8 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - Lakshya only needed 1 out the 12 game points as he takes the first game hands down. In just 14 minutes, he has claimed the first game and has made it look far too easy. Cordon is struggling to keep up with the pace of Sen and needs to come up with a much improved show in the next game if he wants this to be competitive.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 20 - 8 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - Lakshya now has 12 game points in his kitty as he sends a monster smash to the backhand of Cordon leaving the left-hander looking like a mediocre club player.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 16 - 5 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - A thunderous smash down the line lands right on the single's line on Cordon's left and it gets the crowd on their feet as Sen has now won 3 consecutive points.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 13 - 5 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - Nice couple of points for Cordon and he is using the momentum well as he gets the better of Sen in the longest rally of the match so far with a smart shot over Lakshya who was at the net.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 12 - 3 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - Cordon got a point courtesy Sen's unforced error but Sen has immediately course corrected and managed to beat Cordon for pace again getting the serve back.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 11 - 2 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - Sen plays a smart drop shot at the net and races to the mid-game interval with a healthy 9-point lead. The Guetmalan has been no match for the World Number 13 who is beating him for pace and guile comfortably.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 8 - 1 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - It has been all too easy for Sen with Cordon looking off the boil and Sen's lead has now swelled up to 7 points.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 5 - 0 Kevin Cordon (GUA) - Sen has got off to a flier and he is using his smashes to good effect as he has now taken a 5-point lead with the Guatemala yet to open his account.

Game 1: Lakshya Sen (IND) 1 - 0 Kevin Gordon (GUA) - Lakshya takes the first point against the serve of the left-hander and gets off to a positive start in the match.

Both the players are out on the court and are going through their warmups currently. As expected, there is a lot of support for Lakshya Sen with the fans making a lot of voice.

The Olympics Village is a dream place for any athlete where you get to interact with champions from different sports. Lakshya had a great time when he got to spend time with India's Gold Medalist from Tokyo 2021 Neeraj Chopra. Here's what he said exclusively to Sportskeeda👇

“Whenever I meet Neeraj bhaiya, I get motivated even more” - Lakshya Sen on interacting with the ace javelin thrower at the Paris Olympics

Here's how things have fared in the past when Lakshya Sen has went up against his 37-year old opponent for today Kevin Gordon 👇
-

2024 Paris Olympics Badminton: Lakshya Sen vs Kevin Cordon head-to-head record

Lakshya Sen has his work cut out when he sets foot in the La Chapelle Arena to make his Olympic debut in an attempt to go where no Indian male shuttler has gone in a campaign which is already historic as the number of Indian men's singles shuttlers in the Olympics has gone up to 2 after a gap of 20 years.

As far as Kevin Cordon goes, he is appearing in the Olympics for a record fifth time and is a experience pro who knows how it is done at the biggest stage. The last time he went on to the represent Guatemala was in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics where he had a scintillating campaign and finished in the fourth place, agonizingly close to a podium finish.

Lakshya has been placed in a difficult Group L with the likes of World Number 3 Jonathan Christie in the same group. For now, he will look to get the better of the Guatemalan Kevin Cordon who is ranked number 41 in the world as opposed to Sen who is at number 19. Sen seems really confident of himself and says that he knows what to expect of the South American having played against him before.

From Tokyo to Paris, three years down the line, we are ready to kick things off for the shuttlers with Lakshya Sen in action first up against Kevin Cordon from Guatemala. Lakshya has high hopes of himself in this campaign and having spent a good couple of weeks training for the Olympics after skipping the Canada Open earlier in the month he would be coming in fresh into the Games and with some good backing behind him amongst the likes of Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar in his corner.

The Indian Badminton contingent has arrived in Paris 2024 full of confidence and hopes that it can better the tally of medals that India have won at any Olympics before this. The thing to be noted is that India have finished at the podium only in the last three editions and that too in only the women's singles discipline courtesy the historic bronze from Saina Nehwal at London 2012 and the back-to-back-medals from PV Sindhu in 2016 & 2020 with the latter being India's best ever finish in the form off a silver.