Lakshya ends long title drought

After winning the first game 21-18, India’s Lakshya Sen found himself in a spot in the second game of the men’s final at the Canada Open on Sunday. 

He trailed 16-20 against the reigning All England Champion Li Shi Feng of China.  

Sure there would have been another game to make amends had he lost the second, but Sen was unwilling to stretch the proceedings to the decider.  

“Mentally he is a very strong boy with fierce determination. When he is feeling physically strong, he will stick in there and put it across irrespective of the situation he is in,” Vimal Kumar, Sen’s coach, told DH. 

The 21-year-old did just that. Down four game points, Sen won six straight points to clinch it 22-20 and capture his second BWF Super 500 title. 

“He could hit through his opponent and dominate at the net,” Vimal, former Indian team’s coach, noted as he broke down Sen’s game. “In the second, Feng read Sen’s game better to gain a comfortable lead. But when Lakshya was down, he varied the pace and was not mindlessly attacking. He rallied, pushed the shuttle back, played patiently and then attacked. When the gap began closing in, I think Feng cracked under pressure,” explained Vimal about his ward’s come-from-behind victory.

This is the biggest trophy the youngster has won after pocketing the Commonwealth Games gold last August. Speaking about the shuttlers struggles over the past few months, Vimal said that the septoplasty surgery (surgical correction of defects and deformities of the nasal septum) that Sen underwent took the youngster more than three months to completely recover.

“Even though he started playing, he would develop an infection overnight. He suffered quite a bit during tournaments. One day he would be perfectly fine and the next he would come with swollen eyes, throat infection and such things. 

“That was worrisome for us. Subsequently, getting rid of that aspect has helped. As a support team we need to be careful and look after the player well,” he added. 

Anup as travelling coach

With the Korean coach Yong Sung leaving, Vimal and Sen decided to rope in Olympian Anup Sridhar and brought back Deckline Leitao, a sport and exercise science specialist. 

“Anup will be his traveling coach till the Asian Games. Lakshya is very injury prone and Deckline knows him right from when he was 10 years old. He understands Lakshya’s physique better and the programme he designs for him varies from week to week which suits him.

“Anup is slowly getting to understand Lakshya better and he is at the academy everyday. Hope this arrangement can help in bringing in more consistent results for him,” said Vimal. 

With the Olympic qualification year currently underway, consistency will be key to improve and maintain his ranking that currently sits at world no. 19.  

“The Olympics is 8-10 months away and there are so many tournaments coming up. It is a tough process. This was a much needed win and will give him a lot of satisfaction and confidence going ahead,” reckoned Vimal. 

There is little time to celebrate for Sen as he will be hopping continents to compete at the US Open (Council Bluffs), Korea Open (Yeosu), Japan Open (Tokyo) and Australian Open (Sydney) in the next four weeks.