This 18-year-old came to BWF Worlds with a Friday return ticket. Then he beat Lakshya

Garret Tan arrived in Delhi as an 18-year-old American ranked 92nd in the world, with little more than a first World Championships experience in mind. He left Lakshya Sen stunned, his return ticket and plans back home suddenly up in the air.Garret Tan, 18, defeated Lakshya Sen in BWF World Championships second round (BAI Photo)Garret Tan had a flight booked for Friday. His first World Championships was supposed to be a short trip to Delhi, an opportunity for the 18-year-old American to experience the biggest tournament of his young career before heading back home.Now, he has to rethink his plans.Garret Tan, ranked 92 in men's singles, stunned India's No. 1 Lakshya Sen 19-21, 21-19, 21-17 in a 73-minute second-round thriller on Wednesday, producing the biggest win of his career and silencing a packed Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The teenager from California is into the pre-quarter-finals of the BWF World Championships, and that Friday flight suddenly looks rather inconvenient.“I was supposed to leave on Friday, but I guess, I have to see how that goes,” Garret Tan said, laughing. It was an appropriately understated reaction to an extraordinary evening.Lakshya is one of India's biggest badminton stars, and playing him in Delhi meant Tan was not only up against the 14th seed. He was up against the atmosphere that comes with a home favourite. There were drums in the stands, constant noise and a crowd desperate to drag Lakshya through every tight rally. Tan had to find a way to shut it all out.He did so with the sort of badminton that suggested he was not particularly interested in the occasion getting bigger than him. He hit with power, defended stubbornly and was willing to take the shuttle early at the net. His game was not built around one outstanding weapon. There was power from the back, control in the rallies and enough courage at the front of the court to keep Lakshya guessing.Even after losing a tight first game 19-21, Tan did not retreat. He took the second 21-19 and, with the home crowd still trying to lift Lakshya, held his nerve in the decider. At 17-17, the teenager found another gear and closed out the match 21-17.By the time it was over, the drums had gone quiet.“I think it was a good match,” Lakshya said afterwards.“I give a lot of credit to my opponent. He played a very solid game.”Noth players were exhausted by the third game, Lakshya said, but he had given everything and it still was not enough.For Tan, the performance was the culmination of a journey that has been quietly gathering pace.WHO IS GARRET TAN? Garret Tan and Lakshya Sen in Delhi (PTI Photo) He was a promising junior in the United States and spent time as the junior world No. 1. He remains No. 7 in the US junior rankings, but his ambitions have increasingly moved towards the senior circuit.Tan's journey has been building steadily. He started training at eight and began playing internationally at 14. He won the Pan Am Junior Championships last year, a title previously won by the likes of Victor Lai, who has since broken into the world's top 10. Tan also reached the pre-quarter-finals of the World Junior Championships in Guwahati last year. This year, he has begun testing himself more regularly on the senior circuit, reaching the semi-finals of the Brazil International in March and the Saipan International in July.And yet, Tan did not spend the build-up to his first World Championships obsessing over the name on the other side of the net.Asked whether he had watched a lot of Lakshya's videos before the match, he shook his head.“No, not really. I just wanted to go in, play my best, and not think about who was standing in front of me.”That simplicity is part of what those who have known Tan for years admire about him.ALWAYS CURIOUSCao Hok Paula Lynn has coached him since he was a child. She remembers a tall, athletic boy who was always asking questions.“He's the type of boy, before, and now an athlete, he's more like always curious: ‘Coach, how will I do well on this? What should I work on?’ Full of good questions,” Paula said.“Before, I was like, ‘Hmm, he's too young to listen and do what I'm telling him to do,’ but seeing him now, he's actually learned from those pep talks and exchange moments during private and group lessons. All I remember is positive when it comes to training him.”For Paula, one of Tan's biggest qualities is not his height or the power that comes with it. It is his willingness to listen.“As a player, you should be coachable,” she said.“Different coaches can give different opinions and advice, but you need to be coachable as a player and take the positive things that you could add to your game, and then move forward.”That quality was particularly important on Wednesday because Tan's coaching set-up in Delhi was hardly conventional.He trains largely by himself in Los Angeles and has also spent time training in Taiwan. His parents are based there, while his mother travels with him at tournaments and also works as his manager. There is no large, permanent coaching entourage following him around the world.At the World Championships, Paula, his childhood coach, was part of the support team. Lauren Lam, an American player who was herself beaten by India's Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly in the doubles on Tuesday in Delhi, was in Tan's coaching chair against Lakshya.It was an ad-hoc group, but one that knew the player.“We were doing a little bit of both today,” Paula said. “Lauren too, she was my player, as you all know she played singles before, so it was a group effort.”The tactics were clear. Lakshya is particularly good at putting pressure on opponents at the front of the court, so Tan was asked to use the backline and keep himself away from those exchanges.“We noticed Lakshya is very good at putting a lot of pressure on Garret in the front,” Paula said.“So that's why we wanted to keep him away from the front.”They also prepared Tan for the drift and for the inevitable pressure from the crowd.“We already expected that, obviously, it's a home advantage,” Paula said.“We talked about it: don't mind the yelling of the crowd or the cheering. It's more like we prepared mentally that it's going to happen no matter what, and we just needed to stay focused on what we could control.”Tan did exactly that.There was even a moment in the deciding game when he dived and hit his head, leaving him feeling dizzy. Lauren, sitting in the coaching chair, knew that the match could easily have slipped away mentally at that point.“I told him to just reset,” she said. “As an athlete, when you're going through that, you can only take in so much. So I told him to just keep his composure, keep focus, and just focus on the current point that's happening.”LITTLE BROTHER Cao Hok Paula Lynn (right) and Lauren Lam with Garret Tan (PTI Photo) Lauren speaks about Tan less like a conventional teammate and more like an older sister watching a younger brother grow.“He's like my little brother,” she said.“He's super hard-working. He's a very God-fearing Christian, very dedicated to the sport. He actually inspires me, you know? Me, myself as an athlete too, seeing my little brother working hard like that, as a big sister, it kind of pushes me as well. So we push each other.”She was particularly impressed by the way he handled the biggest occasion of his young career.“For a kid like 18 years old, for me, I was actually impressed,” Lauren said.“It's really impressive that he can maintain that focus and handle that pressure. I mean, it's the World Champs, it's the biggest tournament.”That may ultimately be the most interesting thing about Tan's breakthrough.The teenager's game is easy to notice. He is tall, powerful and athletic. His smashes can hurt opponents, but he is not simply a power player. Against Lakshya, he showed the patience to defend, the courage to take the net and the tactical awareness to change the pace when required.But underneath all of that is a player his coaches describe as curious, coachable and remarkably composed for his age.He came to Delhi as a former junior No. 1 still trying to establish himself in the senior game. He came with his mother, a childhood coach and a small support group. He came with a ticket home for Friday.He will not be using it yet.For the first time at a World Championships, Garret Tan has somewhere else to be. In the pre-quarter-finals, a golden opportunity to play World No. 2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn is waiting. And suddenly, the 18-year-old American has a reason to stay in Delhi a little longer.- EndsPublished By: Akshay RameshPublished On: Aug 20, 2026 08:14 IST