‘Speechless’ Garret Tan silences Lakshya Sen and Delhi crowd at BWF World Championships | Badminton News
New Delhi: On one side of Court 1 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium was Lakshya Sen, on all fours, having made a desperate lunge to get the shuttle back, barely inches from the net. A hapless and desperate attempt after an hour and 13 minutes into his Round of 32 match at the Delhi World Championships.On the other was Garret Tan, reacting milliseconds later with a leap into the air to punch the shuttle back into safety and barely getting it over the line.On one side was the Indian, all but pleading with the umpire to call it out. Disbelief was written on his face as he rolled over before picking himself up.Tan, meanwhile, knelt and celebrated next to the chair umpire before crossing over to the other side and shaking hands with the crowd favourite. Moments later, he jogged to his equally exuberant coach and compatriot Lauren Lam to celebrate.
I’m still speechless right now. I just can’t believe I’m playing tomorrow.
Garret Tan
The American, the World No. 92, had just taken out the local hope, the 14th seed and the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, 19-21, 21-19, 21-17 to cause quite a stir.The arena has not yet been filled in three days of competition. But whenever an Indian has come out, the support has been vociferous. Playing in front of the biggest set of spectators in his young career, Tan hushed the crowd with a cross-court smash and brought up match point. On his first match point, he ensured he brought the decibel level down even further.
USA’s Garret Tan in action during the men’s singles Round of 32 match against India’s Lakshya Sen at the BWF World Championship 2026 at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)
“It got to me at one point in the third set, when I was leading 8-2, and then the crowd started to really cheer, and it kind of got to me,” Tan admitted later. “I’m still speechless right now. I just can’t believe I’m playing tomorrow,” he added.The 18-year-old, who trains in Los Angeles and has roots in Taiwan, started at eight years old before playing his first international at 14. He’s won five US junior titles and recorded 108 wins in 150 matches played.
We noticed Lakshya is very good at putting a lot of pressure to (bring) Garret in front. So we wanted to, you know, keep him away from the front.
Paula Lynn | Garret Tan’s coach
At the Pan Am Championships earlier in the year, he reached the men’s singles quarter-finals, beating Brazil’s Jonathan Matias before losing to Canada’s Brian Yang. Ripples of his growing talent were also seen during the US Open, Taipei Open and Saipan International, where he was the fifth seed.Accompanied to New Delhi by coach Paula Lynn, who he considers an elder sister, and his mother, who acts as his manager, what makes him special is his curiosity and being ‘coachable.’
USA’s Garret Tan celebrates after winning his men’s singles Round of 32 match against India’s Lakshya Sen at the BWF World Championship 2026 at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)
“Off the top of my head, it’s that a player should be coachable,” said Lynn on what makes Tan a good player. “You should be coachable because different coaches can give different opinions and even advice. But I think you need to be coachable as a player and take what are the positive things that you could add to your game and then move forward,” she explained.Before the big match against Lakshya, the coach and Tan got together to discuss strategy, how to deal with the drift and the ‘uncontrollable’ in the form of a partisan crowd.A day later, Tan delivered on those discussions. With Sen strong with smashes and when approaching the front, the American took that away with pushes to the back line and cleverly paced tosses, targeting the forehand in the process.
USA’s Garret Tan being attended by a physio after an injury during a men’s singles round of 32 badminton match against India’s Lakshya Sen at the BWF World Championships, at IGI Stadium, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)
Tan acknowledged that the drift played a role as he adopted that strategy. During the match, the coach and Lam continued to remind him to play smartly and use the two-paced court to his advantage.“We noticed Lakshya is very good at putting a lot of pressure to (bring) Garret in front. So we wanted to, you know, keep him away from the front. In the first and second set, Lakshya half-smashed and then he was very fast in coming forward. So we kind of slowed down the pace,” explained Lynn.“You can see he’s tall, jumps really high, very powerful. But Lakshya is very smart. He is very smart in dealing with Garret’s way of play because he didn’t put a lot of pressure on the big smashes. So, Garret started to play a lot of angle smashes and half smashes,” she continued.If Lakshya Sen’s shot-making couldn’t deter Tan, an accidental bump to the head wasn’t enough either. In the third set, as the 18-year-old lunged to pick up a drop shot, he slid forward and aggravated an injury from a previous tournament.
United States’ Garret Tan celebrates after defeating India’s Lakshya Sen at the Badminton World Championships in New Delhi, India, Wednesday. (AP Photo)
With the tournament doctor coming to his aid, Tan, feeling dizzy, took a breather with the points getting tight. His team urged him to reset. Shortly after, he picked up the biggest win of his career.A couple of weeks ago, Tan was convinced that he wouldn’t go far in the tournament. With tickets booked for Friday, he crossed his fingers to keep his debut stint at the World Championships going. After the shock and awe on Wednesday, he has the daunting task of facing second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
