All England badminton: Lakshya Sen stuns Li Shi to enter semifinals

Lakshya Sen continued his dream run and kept India’s hopes afloat at the All England Open, stunning China’s world No. 6 Li Shi Feng in straight games to storm into the semifinals in Birmingham.

The world No. 12 Indian, who was a finalist in 2022, ousted Li 21-13, 21-16 in the men’s singles quarterfinal that lasted an hour at the Utilita Arena on Friday (March 6, 2026).

The win also served as a sweet revenge for Lakshya, who had lost to the same opponent at the quarterfinal stage of the 2025 edition.

Lakshya dominated the opening game and built a comfortable lead before Li attempted a comeback midway through.

The Indian, however, stepped up his attack to close out the game convincingly.

The second game saw a closer contest with both the players trading points in the early exchanges.

Lakshya held a slender lead at the mid-game interval and then pulled away in the closing stages to seal the match.

The victory also improved Lakshya’s head-to-head record against Li Shi Feng to eight wins in 15 matches.

Lakshya, the top-ranked Indian badminton player who also made the semifinals here in 2024, is now the only Indian left in the fray this year.

He had earlier stunned world No. 1 and defending champion Shi Yuqi in the opening round.

He will face Canada’s world No. 16 Victor Lai in the semifinals.

The other Indian players were knocked out earlier in the week. The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost in the first round, while Malvika Bansod and Unnati Hooda also bowed out in the opening round of women’s singles.

Two-time Olympian PV Sindhu had withdrawn from the tournament after failing to reach Birmingham in time due to travel disruptions in West Asia, while the mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila retired from their match on Thursday.