On December 27, 2024, Beijing time, the King's Cup International Badminton Open officially kicked off in Shenzhen! This event is initiated by badminton king Lin Dan, with a total prize money of 2.4 million yuan, including a championship prize of 1.1 million yuan, runner-up prize of 500,000 yuan, third place prize of 300,000 yuan, and top 8 prize of 100,000 yuan! A total of 8 players participated in this event, namely: Antonsen, Kunlavut, Luo Jianyou, Lakshya, Ng Ka Long, Raneer, Hu Zhe'an, and Wang Zijun! In the just concluded first quarterfinal match, Indian star Lakshya faced Hong Kong veteran Ng Ka Long! In the end, Lakshya lost the first set 10-21, but then won two consecutive sets 21-13, 21-13 to reverse Ng Ka Long and advance to the semifinals first!
Lakshya is ranked 12th in the world and won a super 300 event championship this season, also reaching the semifinals in super 1000 and super 750 events, and advanced to the top 4 in the Paris Olympics! Veteran Ng Ka Long is ranked 17th in the world and also won a super 300 event championship this season, but his overall performance is slightly inferior to Lakshya! The two sides have met three times before, with Ng Ka Long maintaining a perfect record, but there was no record of their encounters this season!
In the first set of this game, Ng Ka Long took the lead with a 5-2 lead, while Lakshya made more mistakes, and Ng Ka Long controlled the rhythm of the game to enter the break with an 11-5 lead! After the break, Ng Ka Long still controlled the rhythm of the game and fought bravely to win the first set 21-10! In the second set, Ng Ka Long made more mistakes, and Lakshya took the opportunity to score continuously and finally entered the break with an 11-5 lead! After the break, Lakshya controlled the rhythm of the game and led all the way to win back a set 21-13! Both sides entered the decisive game!
In the decisive game, Lakshya controlled the rhythm of the game to take an 8-2 lead, and then Ng Ka Long launched a counterattack and scored a wave of 6-1 to chase the score to 8-9. At a critical moment, Lakshya scored two points in a row to enter the technical break with an 11-8 lead! After the break, Lakshya expanded the lead to 14-9, and Ng Ka Long did not give up, chasing and biting the score all the way. After 16-13, Lakshya scored five points in a row to win the game 21-13!
