City-based Lakshay wins 2 medals in national badminton tourney

Anil Datt

Ludhiana, December 26

City-based badminton player, Lakshay Sharma, has added two more medals in his kitty. He won a silver and a bronze medal in the Sub-Junior National Badminton Championship held at Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

Lakshay, student of Class IX at Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabaha Nagar, Ludhiana, and trainee of his father, Mangat Rai Sharma, an NIS qualified coach, represented Punjab in the championship and was a lone shuttler who won the medals.

Lakshay finished as runner-up in the doubles category to clinch a silver medal and also finished at the victory podium in the singles category, bagging a bronze medal in the U-15 section during the 33rd National Sub-Junior Badminton Championship (U-15 and 17) held from December 17 to 22 at Bhubaneswar.

In the doubles group, Lakshay teamed up with Tonmy Bikash Boruah from Assam to edge out top seeded Gagan and Mayank from Haryana in the semi-final 18-21, 21-17 and 21-15.

However, in the title clash, Lakshay and Tonmoy went down fighting against Sanskar Saraswat and Bhuvan Singh of Rajasthan in three sets 14-21, 21-18 and 10-21 to content with a silver medal.

In the singles category, Lakshay, got the better of Raghav from Haryana whom he defeated 21-16, 22-20 to qualify for the semi-final wherein, he waged a spirited battle against Tonmoy Bikash Boruah before losing it 15-21, 13-21 to settle for a bronze medal.

Lakshay, currently 3rd ranked in India (singles and doubles) has many feathers in his cap, including titles in the top honours in the North Zone and National Ranking Tournaments. He also annexed titles in the Swiss Open Youth Badminton Championship and Glasgow Youth International Championship

Sister Reshmi, Principal of Sacred Heart Convent School and Rajinder Kalsi, general secretary, Punjab Badminton Association, congratulated Lakshay on winning the medals in the national championship.