The young badminton Prodigy, Lakshya Sen continued on his impressive run and started the year 2022 on a strong note. The 20-year-old clinched the India Open Men’s Singles title by thrashing world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight sets by 24-22, 21-17. The India Open title is Sen’s first BWF World Tour Super 500 title and third overall.
A thrilling final
Sen approached a whole different game plan against Loh Kean Yew. Sen like to play a lot more attacking, but in the final, he was quite patient in his rallies. He scored on the unforced errors by the opponents and produced some brilliant points in long rallies.
Sen brilliantly breached the current world champion’s defensive game and never gave him the chance to settle down. The first set was a roller coaster game for both the players.
After an initial 2-0 lead in the first game from the Singapore shuttler, Sen mounted an excellent comeback with four points on the trot. After that Sen maintained the lead for a large part of the game. It was Loh’s determination and great play that eventually lead him to six consecutive points to draw level at 19-19 towards the closing stages. The game points, then, swung between the two, before Lakshya managed to close the game at 24-22.
In the second game, Loh started off well with a 4-1 lead, but it was Sen who fought back, and at the break, the score was in favor of Sen, leading by 9-11. After Lakshya secured five successive points post the break, Loh staged a mini-comeback to draw close to the Indian. However, it wasn’t enough for the Singapore shuttler as Lakshya eventually saw the game off to win the India Open title.
Lakshya Sen – Continuing his family legacy
Three generations of Sen’s family has followed badminton excellence. His love for badminton comes from his family only. D.K. Sen – Lakshya’s father is one of the best coaches in the Indian badminton circuit. His elder brother, Chirag Sen, is also an international badminton player who has represented the nation in several global tournaments.
The 20-year-old recently scripted history by winning a bronze medal at BWF World Championships, a feat that only three other male badminton players have achieved.
Badminton is running in Sen’s veins since childhood
The young Indian badminton prodigy has had badminton flowing in his veins since childhood. When he was 9, Sen persuaded his father to take him to the Union Bank All-India Sub-Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament where his brother was playing.
There his father and Sen met former national champion coach Vimal Kumar, where they told Vimal that the boy want to take up badminton.
Vimal took the boy at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. There the great Prakash Padukone was impressed by seeing the young lad’s intensity and hunger for victory. And decided to shape the boy into a professional player.
Several records at 20
Lakshya became the youngest Indian to reach the men’s singles finals at 15 in 2017. In the same year, Sen got past his mentor, Padukone, who was 16 when he reached the title finals in the 1971 Indian badminton Nationals in Chennai.
In the 2018 Youth Olympics, Sen clinched silver in the men’s singles and bagged a gold in the mixed team event. From here, he grabbed a lot of eyeballs, and since then, he has been playing excellent badminton – winning Bronze at the BWF World Championships and now the title of India Open.
Sen’s hunger for the game has pushed him to outstanding accomplishments at the tender age of 20 years, and India can safely assure a promising future in badminton from Lakshya.
