Lakshya looking to find his wings with new coach by his side

Anup was stoked to witness his ward thrive and felt that he could go on to express himself more inside the court after this morale-boosting win.

Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen in action in the Indian Open Super 750 international badminton tournament in New Delhi. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)

NEW DELHI: Lakshya Sen has risen to prominence over the years with some monumental victories along the way. His ability to transform into beast mode during crunch matches has made him a big pull among fans and the badminton fraternity in the country.

With the Olympic qualification on the horizon, he'll be a man in focus. Every point gained, every smash, and return (all those terminologies from the sport's playbook) will be scrupulously analysed, and dissected by many. Given that he had a minor surgery not so long ago and is working under the guidance of a new coach, Anup Sridhar (former player who took part in the 2008 Olympics), will only add to the intrigue.

The 21-year-old from Almora had undergone septoplasty after the World Championships last year. That decision was not out of the blue and Lakshya's team had found a window to carry out the same. U Vimal Kumar, who has been a constant in his journey so far, explained his recent predicament. "He’s constantly having problems with his throat. (...) he’ll be okay the previous day, and after a sleep, you know he gets it and it's throat pain and fever. So it happened to him in Germany, when he played in Saarbrucken. So after that surgery, I think he still hasn’t fully recovered," Vimal revealed.

Change always tends to be a big gamble for athletes who are constantly racing against time. With crucial days/nights ahead, how the Commonwealth Games champion will respond to Anup's coaching methods should also be something to look out for.

On Tuesday, on the opening day of the India Open Super 750 in New Delhi, the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist showed a glimpse of what he could offer under his new guide, who has been working with him since December last year. Up against India counterpart HS Prannoy, who had made him toil just a few days ago in Malaysia, Lakshya played with a real flow to outplay Prannoy 21-14, 21-15.

Anup was stoked to witness his ward thrive and felt that he could go on to express himself more inside the court after this morale-boosting win. "The approach today (Tuesday) was very positive, aggressive and attacking, which is his natural style. Coming off after a couple of months of non-competition to high-level competition. It's always good to get a win under your belt, I think he'll open up a lot more now. He was tentative last week, now there's aggressiveness in his game. This is what we must do going forward," Anup, who'll be with Lakshya at least until the end of this month (a review will be conducted to decide the future), said.

The former India shuttler, who formerly learnt his trade under Prakash Padukone and Vimal, is also mindful not to make many changes, something that could potentially prove to do more harm than good.
"While there has to be some changes, I've also been careful not to tinker too much since we have three competitions in a row. We are making marginal corrections right now and when we get a longer period of training, there will certainly be a lot more focus in a few areas," he noted, while understandably not wanting to divulge weaknesses in his game at the moment.

While Vimal remains positive ahead of Olympic qualifiers (set to start on May 1), he is just hopeful that Lakshya can learn from past experiences and is hopeful that he can keep all his nagging injuries at bay with some prudent routines.

"(...) He is a little injury prone, he runs around and jumps around, and that's how he plays. So I keep telling him, he needs to take care of his body, he needs to do a lot of mobility exercises, physios, you know a good team is there working for you."

Round 2 opponent: Rasmus Gemke (Denmark)