Lakshya Sen beat the world No. 1 during the tournament. But he could not win the one match that mattered most.

The 24-year-old Indian player lost the All England Open men’s singles final on Sunday, March 8, 2026. He went down 15–21, 20–22 to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi in a 57-minute match in Birmingham.

It was his second time reaching the final of the tournament and his second runner-up finish. He had also finished second in 2022.

After the match, Sen spoke openly about how he felt.

"I'm feeling emotional right now, thinking about the match," Sen said in a video posted by The Bridge on X on Monday, March 10, 2026. "But overall, lots of positive things today."

The final was tough for Sen. Lin, who controlled the first game and used Sen’s short lifts to hit winners across the court. In the second game, Sen fought back and won six straight points to move from 3–4 to 9–4.

But Lin came back again. At 20–19, Sen saved the first match point. He could not stop the second one.

"Again, coming this close and not getting the final win feels a little bit disheartening," Sen said,

"But overall, a good week in terms of the whole tournament."

Lin, who won the India Open Super 500 earlier in 2026, made history with this victory. He became the first men’s singles player from Chinese Taipei to win the All England title.

Prakash Padukone won the tournament in 1980, and Pullela Gopichand won it in 2001. They are still the only Indians to win the All England men’s singles title.

Five Wins, One Trophy Short: What Sen Takes Away From Birmingham

The tournament gave Sen more positives than the final score shows.

He started by beating world No. 1 Shi Yuqi 23–21, 19–21, 21–17. After that, he defeated Ng Ka Long Angus and then beat sixth seed Li Shifeng of China 21–13, 21–16.

He then won a tough semifinal against Victor Lai, and that made it four wins in a row against strong opponents, even though Sen was ranked world No. 12.

Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra also praised him on X on March 8, 2026. He said Sen showed India “what courage, resilience, and belief truly look like” during his run to the final.

Sen himself kept it simple when he spoke about the tournament in a video on March 10, 2026. He said he had some good wins and learned a lot from the week. He added that the confidence from this tournament will help him in the upcoming events.

This runner-up finish was also his fifth loss in a row against Lin. That is one thing he will want to change. Everything else from this week will still give him confidence going forward.

Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi