Lakshya Sen and the art of arriving!

Sundays All England Championships final loss to Viktor Axelsen in Birmingham notwithstanding Indiarsquos Lakshya Sen 20 can be very proud of the way his season has panned outSen was in the thick of things right from August 2021 when the COVIDravaged Badminton World Federation BWF tour opened up Nine tournaments were completed across August and December If the tournaments ran with the wind so did Sen He was like an unstoppable hurricane decimating opponents who are still figuring out what hit themHe reached the final of the Dutch Open quarterfinals of French and Danish Open semifinals of Hylo event in Germany semifinals of the World tour finale semifinals of the World Championship where he got a bronze Indonesian Open and Indonesian Masters where he lost in the first round to the then World No1 Kento Momota last NovemberCapital gainWith hardly any rest he had to play the January 2022 India Open in Delhi where he defeated world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore to claim the titlePrakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar PicsAtul Kamble AFPMoving on to Europe he reached the final of the German Open and the All England Before the final he defeated everyone of repute At Muelheim in Germany he beat his Sunday conqueror Axelsen to reach the final only to lose to Kunlavut Vitidsarn of ThailandAt Birmingham he defeated Lee Zii Jia the No6 seed who was the defending All England champion Sen also accounted for Anders Antonsen the dynamic and dangerous No 3 seed from DenmarkSo how good is Sen How mentally strong is he What are his strengths weaknesses and how is he at training These are some of the questions I posed to his mentor Prakash Padukone and coach Vimal Kumar who have seen Sen since he was nine years old ldquoWhat attracted me first about this frail thin kid was his ability to keep the rallies going Other kids bigger than him would make mistakes after the third or fourth stroke but Lakshya would continue merrily He would be in the badminton hall doing something or the other all day He simply loved to play badminton At times his father had to carry him outrdquo said Vimal Padukone concurred ldquoI realised early on that he was something special His love for the game was apparent and he was a fast learnerrdquolsquoBig names donrsquot matterrsquoAccording to Vimal who has been a daily handson coach for Sen he was never bothered about big names The more illustrious opponent the better He was ranked World No 1 on the junior circuit and won the Dutch Open at 17Padukone opined that Sen is very hard working focussed disciplined dedicated grounded and most importantly mentally very strong even when up against higherranked players He is badmintonsmart in the sense that he is always finding ways to earn points and innovate on court Like every formidable player he always has twothree plans to dislodge the opponent and is not averse to taking risksldquoLakshya is a thinking player always trying to find weak spots of the opponent which he can then exploit He has no apparent weakness in his game His defence net play and variations in attack are awesome He can only get betterrdquo said VimalPadukone and Vimal reckon Sen is a glutton when it comes to hard work never known to shy away from any sort of training thrown at him This makes him a complete playerAlthough he is winning titles on the circuit he has to triumph in bigticket events The World Championships Asian Games and Commonwealth Games are slated for this year and there is where he has to thrive ldquoIt is important that he paces himself well peaks at the right time and has good rest and recovery in a year that is crammed with tournaments He can bring a lot of glory to the countryrdquo concluded VimalAt 20 Sen is younger than his peers like Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand and Loh Kean Yew the world champion from Singapore Axelsen at 28 will find his best days will be behind himThere is no reason why Sen cannot be the worldrsquos best shuttler soon since everything is going for him But let Padukone have the final word ldquoLakshya has been the most consistent player ever since the world circuit restarted last year This is no simple task He has truly announced his arrival on the world stagerdquo