All eyes on Lakshya Sen

PTI

New Delhi, March 21

Lakshya Sen will be scrutinised and studied more after his sensational run at the All England Championships and the young shuttler would need variations in his game from the back of the court to stay ahead, said his mentor and former India coach Vimal Kumar.

Living my dream

It’s been a long journey for me from Almora to the All England Open. I gave it my all on the court in the final yesterday vs Viktor but it wasn’t meant to be. For me, getting the chance to represent my country means everything. I am living my dream and I will always give my 100% on court. Lakshya Sen

Sen out of Swiss Open

Basel: Lakshya Sen today pulled out of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament to get some rest after two weeks of gruelling badminton. PTI

A product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, Sen has been in incredible form in the last six months. He claimed a maiden bronze at the World Championships, secured the India Open title in January before finishing second best at the German Open and the All England Championships.

“I am happy with his tactical acumen, there is considerable improvement,” Kumar said. “He is calm and dealing with tough situations better. I also see a remarkable improvement in his defence, especially how he tackled the attack of Viktor (Axelsen) and Anders (Antonsen),” he added.

“He will now be scrutinised and studied and he will have to cope with that. Overall, he is going in the right direction but he can attack more from the back of court and bring in more variations,” he added.

The 20-year-old Sen’s hopes of becoming the third Indian to win the All England Championships were ended after a straight-game loss to world No. 1 and Olympics champion Axelsen on Sunday. “He is disappointed but he has that spirit. He is very realistic and he knows why he lost. He knows what he needs to improve if he has to beat someone like Axelsen. He understands that he can’t feel too bad or be disheartened,” said Kumar, who is the head coach at Padukone’s academy.

Training with Axelsen

After failing to make the Thomas Cup team in October, Sen left for a two-week sparring stint with Axelsen. Sen also trained with the Danish national team and played for Danish club Aarhus.

“It did a world of good to his game. He picked up things from Axelsen and went on his own without a coach to the European circuit. It made him tougher as he managed things on his own,” said the 59-year-old Kumar.

“One thing about Lakshya is that he is very good at taking instructions and implementing them in the game. We generally give an overall idea but he picks up things and knows what needs to be done,” he added. —

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