New Delhi: Newly-crowned Asia Junior badminton champion Lakshya Sen is happy that he has been able to emulate PV Sindhu. Among the men, other than Lakshya, the only Indian to have won the Asian Junior title was Gautam Thakkar way back in 1965. Among the women, only Sindhu has been able to manage the feat.
“It feels great that my name will now feature along with Sindhu didi. She is a great player and to emulate what she achieved as a junior is indeed a huge confidence-booster,” the shuttler, who arrived from Jakarta, stated here Monday. “I hope as a senior player I can reach the same heights which Sindhu didi has achieved,” added the player.
Lakshya also said that his idol Prakash Padukone had called him after the victory. “He is my idol, so to hear his voice and get the congratulatory message was awesome. He told me ‘well done, but then you have to achieve a lot more and have to work harder’,” Lakshya informed.
In the recent past, Lakshya has twice lost to the legendary Lin Dan – once in the Thomas Cup and then in the New Zealand Open. In both the matches, he stretched the Chinese before losing.
“Those two matches showed me where I need to work upon, which areas to improve. I looked at the positives out of those losses and have already started working on some of my weaknesses,” said Lakshya. “Lin (Dan) is an exceptional player and it was an education playing against him.”
The teen shuttler also informed that playing in both the team and individual events had been physically demanding at Jakarta. “The focus was on recovering quickly after each match. It was not easy as ahead of the tournament I had to tweak my training a bit as I had suffered a shin splint. During the tournament I had to take pills sometimes to curb the pain,” Lakshya said.
Former national coach Vimal Kumar, who has groomed Lakshya, was pleased with his ward’s clever game in the final but said the talented shuttler has to be careful with his body.
“He is growing, suddenly he has gained height and so he is having issues with his shoulder, ankle and shin areas. Before leaving for Asia Junior, he couldn’t play for a week because of a shin splint. So considering all that, I am very pleased with his performance,” Vimal said. “He is skilful, but needs to work on his strength.”