Ludhiana lad Lakshay wins silver medal in Punjab Sr Badminton Championship

Ludhiana, September 27

City lad Lakshay Sharma took a big stride as despite being in teens he competed in the senior section and stunned his experienced opponents by winning silver medal in the men’s singles category.

Lakshay (16) participated in the Punjab State Senior Badminton Championship held in Mohali from September 16 to 19 wherein he not only won one or two matches, but gave a stupendous performance, logged in wins against seeded players to make his way into the summit clash and eventually settled for the runners-up trophy.

Lakshay, a student of Class XI at Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana, began his campaign at Mohali in a style. In the pre-quarterfinal match, he drubbed fifth seeded Manmohit Sandhu from Jalandhar in two sets (21-5, 21-12). In the quarterfinal, Lakshay outwitted his city mate Chirag Sharma (21-18, 21-9) to storm into the semifinals wherein he faced top seed Ritvik Mohanty of Sangrur. Lakshay, after some hiccups, managed to pip his rival in three sets (15-21, 21-16 and 21-11) to secure his berth in the title clash.

In the final against Abhinav Thakur from Jalandhar, Lakshay wrapped up the opening game 21-19. In the next game, however, Abhinav bounced back to win it 21-14 to level the score and the decider, he survived a scare before stitching it up 21-18, which also fetched him the title. For his outstanding performance in this championship, Lakshay Sharma has been selected to take part in the ensuing North Zone Inter-State and Senior National Championship.

Lakshay, a trainee of his father Mangat Rai Sharma, an NIS qualified coach, has already won a couple of medals in the international level tournaments such as gold medal in the Youth International Badminton Championship held at Glasgow, Scotland (UK), gold medal in the singles and doubles categories at the Swiss Youth Open Badminton Championship. Last month, Lakshay emerged champion at the 11th Multi Alarm Hungarian International Junior Badminton Championship (U-19) at Pecs. This championship was organised by the apex body Badminton World Federation.

Rajinder Singh Kalsi, general secretary, Punjab Badminton Association, honoured Lakshay for his achievement in Hungary during the prize distribution function of the state championship in Mohali.

Sister Veena Dsouza, Principal, Sacred Heart Convent School, congratulated Lakshay on winning silver medal in the badminton championship and wished him good luck for the upcoming North Zone and National Tournaments. — OC