Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen definitely deserved a medal for his "fantastic performances" at the Olympics, reckons two-time world champion Viktor Axelsen, who defended his gold medal at the Paris Games.

The 22-year-old Sen became the first Indian men’s badminton player to qualify for the semifinals at the Olympics this year but lost in the final four clash to the Danish superstar.

Sen had to deal with further disappointment as he lost to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal playoff to eventually finish fourth in the competition.

While replying to Sen’s post on 'X' in which the Indian had expressed his gratitude for the support that he recefrom his fans, Axelsen wrote, “Keep going brother. You can be really proud of yourself. Wish all semifinalists could get a medal as you definitely deserve one.” (sic) "Congrats to you all on a fantastic performance at the Games," he added.

Having defeated Sen 22-20 21-14 in their semifinal match, Axelsen had predicted a gold medal for the Indian player in the next iteration of the summer Games.

"Lakshya is an amazing player. He has shown in this Olympics that he is a very, very strong competitor and I am sure in four years from now, he will be one of the favourites to win the gold,” he had said.

"(He is) an amazing talent and a great guy and I wish him all the best."

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