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India's star shuttler Lakshya Sen is keenly setting his sights on a glorious performance at the upcoming World Championships, with the bigger aim of breaking into the global top 5 rankings. Yet, his focus on the immediate future remains unwavering.
Having successfully navigated through a challenging phase, Sen found his rhythm with a title victory in Canada this past July. This triumph was further complemented by his semi-final placements at the US Open and Japan Open.
At just 21, this Almora-based shuttler has already made waves by securing a bronze at the 2021 World Championships. With the next edition poised to begin in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 21, Sen is optimistic about his form. He commented, "World Championships being just a week ahead, I feel the past tournaments which I played will really help me go into the tournament," during a chat with PTI at the inauguration of the Badminton Association of India's National Centre of Excellence.
Sen's recent performance trajectory shows promise. "The preparation has been good. The past few tournaments, the form has been going well, but there are still a few more things to learn and improve," he shared. Looking ahead, Sen is also eagerly anticipating the Asian Games, a once-in-four-years spectacle, scheduled between September 23 and October 8 in Hangzhou, China.
However, the past year hasn’t been devoid of challenges for Sen. Post the World Championships last year, he underwent nasal surgery, leading to an eight-month recovery period. This hampered his performance, causing an early exit in multiple 2022 events and challenges in early 2023. Sen recalled, "It has been a slow start for me this year but in the last few months I was feeling great on court and the training that I did in the last 4-5 months has really helped me a lot."
In his journey, Sen made strategic changes, including welcoming Anup Sridhar as his coach and reintegrating Deckline Leitao, a sports and exercise science expert, into his team.
Sen summed up his aspirations, stating, "I would want myself to be in world top 8 soon and then the aim would be to be in top 5 as the Olympic qualification ends. But, again, at the same time, there are a lot of tournaments. So, the priority is to win big tournaments and the ranking will take care of itself."
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