Commonwealth Games gold-winning shuttler Lakshya Sen is legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar's 'new badminton hero' according to a post on his Instagram, having met the 21-year-old star at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru.
Gavaskar, who was a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning cricket team, paid a visit to the academy during a regular trip to the city on Thursday.
"He had a meeting in Bengaluru and decided to meet the young aspiring kids of the academy. Badminton and cricket are two of his favourite sports. He was here with us for about an hour," Vimal Kumar, co-founder, director and chief coach of the PPBA, told PTI.i
The picture that Gavaskar posted with Lakshya Sen on Instagram was captioned, "My new badminton hero Lakshya Sen, after the one and only Prakash Padukone."
The legendary cricketer had hailed Padukone several times while doing cricket commentary over the years, saying he is one of India's greatest sportspersons. Sen, who has been one of India's most prolific sportspersons in 2022, said he was too star stuck to react.
"It feels good to hear such things from such big personalities. Honestly, I was too star stuck to react," Sen told PTI.
The 21-year-old from Almora won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the India Open Super 500. He was also a member of the historic Thomas Cup win. He also won silver at the All England Championships and is also the winner of the 2021 World Championships bronze medal.
"Gavaskar sir spoke about the Thomas Cup win. I have heard so much about him from my parents and all the seniors. Also when I watched the movie '83', I got to know what went behind that epic win. I can relate to it now, essentially after the Thomas Cup win because back then they were the underdogs and in Thomas Cup, it was us," he said.
India had claimed their first-ever Thomas Cup, beating Indonesia 3-0 in the final at Bangkok in May last year.
(With PTI Inputs)
