Lakshya Sen wins Bulgarian International Series badminton

Bengaluru, August 17: Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen on Thursday (August 17) clinched the Bulgaria Open International Series beating Croatia's Zvonimir Durkinjak in Sofia.

The Uttarakhand shuttler, who celebrated his 16th birthday on Wednesday (August 16), defeated second seed Zvonimir 18-21, 21-12, 21-17 in a 57-minute match.

The world junior No 1 was recently sent to train under former All England champion Peter Gade, currently the head coach of France.

"It is a creditable achievement for Lakshya. He is still a junior but he has been able to win tournaments and that is a good sign. We had sent five players on a 10-day training trip with the French national team. He trained under the great Peter Gade and it has benefitted him," said coach Vimal Kumar.

"He had a good tournament. He beat the top seed Sam Parsons in the first round. He won the junior National and also was finalist at Senior Nationals this year and it gave him a lot of confidence to beat top players like HS Prannoy. So, I feel if groomed properly, he does have a great future," Kumar said.

Other major tournaments, Lakshya will participate is Vietnam Grand Prix and Junior World Championship.