CHENNAI: Lakshya Sen is like Yoda. For a teenager, he is extremely calm and composed. Wearing a bright yellow t-shirt of Chennai Superstarz, his Premier Badminton League franchise, Lakshya pauses and analyses every question posed to him before answering. But on court, he knows how to use the Force to his advantage. After a stellar 2019, when he’d achieved his career-high world rank of 32 (30 now, as per latest BWF list), the Uttarakhand native announced himself in the senior circuit in an impressive way.
But Lakshya is aware that the going will only get tougher. “The last few months were really good for me. They gave me a lot of confidence. While 30 is a good rank, it won’t be easy now. Maybe jumping one or two places up will be easy. But you need to win a top event to go up further.”
Tipped by many as the next-gen singles player from the country, Lakshya also knows that it will be difficult to emulate the likes of Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth.
“There is obviously pressure. They have achieved so much. But I don’t think too much about it.” But talks with his mental trainer help Lakshya a lot while dealing with such issues.
Having had to leave home at a young age to pursue a career in badminton, the 18-year-old is not feeling that he is missing out on activities that boys his age are usually up to.
Lakshya occasionally kicks back by playing FIFA on his PlayStation or streams content on Netflix. He even tries to catch up on Paris Saint-Germain games from time to time because of his love for Neymar.
But in the end, nothing satisfies Lakshya more than sweating it out with a racquet in hand. He, in fact, revealed that some of his friends are jealous of his constant travel and lifestyle.
“I’m mostly playing some tournament or the other. But I go out with friends whenever I get a chance. I don’t miss that. I am playing a sport I love.”
Lakshya’s maturity at this age becomes more evident as he speaks about social media. “A year ago, I was not very keen on social media. I never wanted to post anything. I didn’t find the need to do it.”
But of late, he has been asked to post certain updates by some of his mentors. But he is not very comfortable yet. “Captions are the hardest part for me. I ask my friends for captions all the time. Finding photos is very easy.”
Gayatri Gopichand no match for Sindhu
The much-anticipated clash on Day 1 of PBL 5 between Hyderabad Hunters’ PV Sindhu and Chennai Superstarz’s Gayatri — daughter of Pullela Gopichand — saw the world champion getting the better of the teen 15-5, 15-5 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The home team’s Lakshya Sen beat Priyanshu Rajawat 15-6, 13-15, 15-14. Chennai won 5-2.