Chinese duo Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong won the badminton mixed doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics after beating South Korea’s Kim Won-ho/Jeong Na-eun in the final on Friday. Zheng and Huang, silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics, won the gold medal match 21-8, 21-11. While it must be the only big moment of the day for Siwei, but not for Yaqiong, who was proposed by her boyfriend and Chinese men’s doubles player Liu Yuchen, right in front of the entire crowd. The video of the heartwarming moment is going viral on social media.

Watch it here:

Later on Friday, India’s Lakshya Sen made history at the Olympic Games in Paris, becoming the first male shuttler from the country to reach the semifinals in men’s singles badminton competition on Friday.

While PV Sindhu had bagged two medals in the Olympic Games and Saina Nehwal had claimed a bronze in the 2012 edition in London, no Indian male player had reached the medal rounds in the Olympics.

Sen achieved that feat with a hard-fought victory over Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 19-21, 21-15, 21-12 in a 76-minute encounter in the men’s singles quarterfinals.

Sen, the lone Indian shuttler still in the fray in the Paris Olympics, lost the first game after the Taipei player opened up a 5-2 lead. Though the Indian star levelled scores at 5-5, his rival continued to maintain the upper hand and opened up a 14-9 lead, Sen again fought back to seven points in a row to take a 17-15 lead. However, Chen could not be denied, and he went on to win the game 21-19.

Sen took an early lead in the second game, but the Taipei player kept at his heels and after a quick exchange of points, they were tied 13-13 when the Indian shuttler, a former World Championships bronze medallist, took control of the proceedings and won five points in a row to open up a 18-13 gap. He went on to win the game 21-15 to take it to the decider.

Sen was on top of his game in the decider as he took control of the proceedings 2-3 and opened up a 9-4 lead. Though his opponent from Chinese Taipei tried to fight back, Sen maintained his upper hand as he won the game 21-12 to win the match and seal a place in the semifinals.

Lakshya Sen will next face the top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Loh Kean Yew of Indonesia.

(With IANS Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article