Lakshya Sen: Just 20 And Right Up There
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-03-20 07:14:06
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
2022 has been a golden year for the Almora boy Lakhsya Sen. Although his phenomenal talent and the ability to put it across players seeded much ahead of him was being recognized in international badminton circles for the last couple of years, Sen has come into his own this year. He has beaten Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, World champion Loh Kean Yew and now reigning All England champion Lee Zii Jia all in the space of less than three months. He had beaten world no. 3 Anderson Antonsen in the pre-quarter finals. With this, he is no longer the player to watch but the player to beat and be wary of.
In reaching the finals of the All England Badminton Championships on Saturday, Sen beat Jia 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 in a fiercely contested match that lasted over an hour. The way he overcame mid-match blues resolutely outplayed Jia in the last set shows his confidence, powers of concentration and mental strength. Talent he has in abundance but many talented Indian players have stumbled on the international circuit and did not realize their full potential. Sen seems to be different and is marked for greater glory.
Sen has a wide range of shots, is excellent both at the net and the back court, adapts quickly to how his opponent is playing, and has power and speed and a strategic mind that seldom allows the opponent to dictate terms. The best thing is he knows how to relieve pressure. Watching him play, one feels that the hunger for success, coupled with self-belief, is his greatest asset. Till now, he has played near perfectly in the championship. He will face the winner of the other semifinal between Viktor Alexsen of Denmark and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. If he manages to win, he will be the first Indian to do so after 21 years. Pullela Gopichand had won the title in 2001.
