SENsational Lakshya

By Paritosh Pramanik

The spark of his brilliance ignited in May earlier this year at the New Zealand Open and Thomas Cup. World renowned and multiple time champion China’s Lin Dan was stunned in the first game by this teenager from India. Though the senior Chinese pro went on to win the match, Lakshya Sen, the lanky Indian shuttler made several heads turn with his stunning performance. He dared to dream. He aimed for the Everest. He was determined and was dedicated but fell short on experience.
“It was a dream come true to play Lin Dan but those two matches was a learning experience. I understood where I lacked and what I need to do,” Lakshya told PTI recently.
Last week, Lakshya did what no other Indian shuttler managed to do in near history. After more than half a century, 53 years to be precise, Lakshya shot down the Asian Junior Championship gold to mark his arrival.
Though this was not his first major title, winning gold at Asian Junior Championship was never heard before by any Indian in last 50 years. It was way back in 1965 when late Gautam Thakkar became the first Indian shuttler to win the Asian Junior gold.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu clinched the yellow metal in 2012 after finishing third in an earlier edition. Sameer Verma had won a silver and bronze in 2011 and 2012 and the pair of Pranav Chopra and Prajakta Sawant claimed a bronze in 2009.
But Lakshya rose above all.
The 16-year-old Uttarakhand lad became only the third Indian to be crowned Asian Junior Champion after he ousted top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-19, 21-18 in the finals in Jakarta.
The victory is more sweeter because Lakshya was playing with a shin split injury. Despite that, he went on to beat all odds and pain to win the title.
Badminton is in blood of Lakshya, the younger of two siblings. His elder brother Chirag, too, is an Indian badminton player. Born and brought up in a family of badminton players and coaches, Lakshya was bound to become a great shuttler.
Born in Almora district of Uttarakhand, Lakshya was introduced to badminton by his grandfather, Chandra Lal Sen. Chandra, who was a national-level badminton player, achieved the name of ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ in his native Almora where he used to train shuttlers. From Chandra Sen, DK Sen, father of Lakshya, inherited the nuances of the game and went on to become a renowned badminton coach at SAI Almora. And from him his two sons — Chirag and Lakshya — are taking the baton forward.
Lakshya’s journey with the shuttle sport started way back in 2010.
A bunch of young talented shuttlers was on a Bengaluru trip for a national ranking tournament in 2010 which also included a 10-year-old Lakshya along with brother Chirag.
During that tournament Chirag impressed Vimal Kumar, chief coach at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA). Kumar decided to train Chirag at the PPBA. Looking at his elder brother getting admission at PPBA, Lakshya, too, persisted to be admitted to the same academy. Going by his age at that time (10 years old), his father was reluctant to send his younger son to the academy. But Lakshya was adamant and forced his father to change his mind.
Lakshya was left under the tutelage of his elder brother and Vimal Kumar. Chirag performed the role of a parent and never left Lakshya alone, till date. Lakshya dedicated himself fully to the shuttle sport and never gave a miss to training. His training regimen would start from 5 in the morning and continue for almost four to five hours. 
In 2011, Olympic Gold Quest and PPBA had sent 10-year-old Lakshya to Singapore for a junior event. There he defeated the same Indonesian opponent whom he ousted in the semi-finals of the Asia Junior Championship last Saturday.
In 2014, Lakshya won another tittle in Wimbledon Under-19 championship. The same year, he added another trophy to his cupboard in Swiss Open junior crown.
Lakshya kept on working hard on his skills and in 2016 won the Junior Asian Championship bronze medal.
Even as other renowned shuttlers like Saina Nehwal, Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth kept India’s flag flying high, Lakshya kept improving his performance at junior level. In 2017 his perseverance paid off when Lakshya was ranked World Junior Number 1.
As years passed, Lakshya’s movements on court became more crisper and faster. Despite being a teenager he started playing senior tournaments. In 2017, Lakshya went on to finish runners-up in the senior nationals. In the same tournament he stunned the tournament’s top seed HS Prannoy.
With Junior Asian Championship, Lakshya is making a smooth transition. He now wants to play in the senior circuit and test his mettle. His way ahead is mighty difficult but Lakshya has set his sights on the senior circuit. He has started playing big leagues and is competing in International Series and Challenger events.
This is the time when his academy PPBA, needs to guide the youngster. They should restrict Lakshya to Grand Prix circuit for now. It should be a gradual and slow transition.
But Lakshya has planned his future meticulously. He is not directly targeting the 2020 Olympics gold. He first wants to get into world’s top 50 in men’s singles in next couple of years. He wants to play not more than two or three tournaments in a row and on that basis gauge his performance. He now wants to play more senior tournaments which, he thinks, would help him in getting better for the bigger battles ahead.
Though Lakshya has won Asian title and wants to compete in senior circle, he has one drawback which he has to arrest at the earliest. His weak physique needs to be developed. He need to build on strength and stamina which is required at the senior level.
The Junior Asian Championship was a long tournament for Lakshya who participated in both, team and individual events. He even had to tweak his training as he had suffered a shin splint.
“I will have to discuss with my coach and see what would be my training sessions. But I know I have to work on my overall physique, need to improve my strength to do well in the senior circuit,” Lakshya had told to PTI after his title triumph.
“He (Lakshya) has started hitting hard but his muscles are still very weak. So he needs to do a lot of strengthening workouts to improve his physique because he is skillful. His shot making and other things are good but to do well against a senior player, he needs to work on his strength,” his coach Vimal Kumar said PTI in an interview.
Vimal had a word of caution for Lakshya. “At 16-17, you should be able beat top players and run the senior players close. He is doing that, so it is a good sign. But he has not been able to play too many tournaments. So he has to be careful. We can’t push him that hard in training because he is still growing,” Kumar told PTI.
All said and done, Lakshya has done what no other Indian shuttler could do in 50 years and it is time for him to celebrate this ‘little success’ and start for more tough battles lying ahead in World Junior Championship and Youth Olympics scheduled in October and November.