CWG 2022: Very confident that I will do well this time too: Lakshya Sen set to dazzle in Birmingham again

Bengaluru, July 20: Lakshya Sen has quickly risen up the ranks and is now one of the top Indian shuttlers. With the stage set in Birmingham for the upcoming edition of the Commonwealth Games, Sen will look to finish unfinished business.

Just four months ago, in Birmingham, Sen became the first Indian man in 21 years to reach the finals of the prestigious All England Championship. But the 20-year-old missed out on clinching gold and pocketed silver. Heading into the Birmingham Games, starting July 28, Sen will have his eyes set oon the big prize.

With another opportunity to shine at the Arena Birmingham, speaking to PTI, the shuttler from Almora said, "I like playing in that hall, the conditions suit me. I have good memories there and I am very confident that I will do well this time too. This is also a big tournament, so I am looking forward to giving my best and winning a medal.

"All the top 3-4 players have a good chance of winning the gold and I am not thinking about the colour of the medal, I just want to go there and focus on one match at a time," added Sen.

During the previous edition of the Games held in Gold Coast, the then 16-year-old Sen was glued to the TV screen as he soaked in Indian badminton's historic outing. In the Gold Coast Games, the Indian shuttlers created history as they won the country's first mixed team badminton gold.

Four years ago, Sen, then a 16-year-old budding shuttler, remained glued to his TV set as India scripted history at Gold Coast, claiming the country's first mixed team badminton gold.

"Last time I watched it on TV when India won the gold. Before that, I also watched (Parupalli) Kashyap bhaiya win the gold (in 2014). But 2018 was a nice moment. I wanted to be there in that team," Sen told PTI.

That year, when India scripted history in CWG, Sen also enjoyed a good outing as he clinched the Youth Olympics mixed team gold in Buenos Aires, the bronze medal at the World junior championship and also became the Asian Junior champion in Jakarta.
"Commonwealth Games is a prestigious event for India. I think it will be up there along with world championships in terms of priority. Everyone aspires to play the Olympics but before that, you try to get used to such multiple events and do well in them.

"So I have been thinking a lot about how as a team we can repeat the achievement we got last time. It will be a tough to win but I am looking forward to it."

While England has been the most successful team with 8 titles and five-time champions Malaysia also emerged as a dominating force between 1998 and 2014, India managed to tame the Asian giants in the last edition.

This time, Malaysia will be without their top singles player Lee Zia Jia, ranked 5th in the world, but Sen reckons it will not make the job any easier.

"Malaysia is a good team, they have 5-6 decent singles players. So one pulling out, maybe, it affects them but we are just hoping that we play well and beat Malaysia and win the gold."

Sen, who was part of India's historic Thomas Cup win in May this year, didn't have an ideal build-up to the multi-sport as he was down with a minor shoulder injury and had to skip the twin Malaysia events.

"I was feeling the pain in Indonesia, so I decided to take two weeks off and skip Malaysia leg. For the first two weeks, the focus was on fitness, so there were a lot of off-court workouts and extended gym time. But now the focus is more on skills and badminton training," said Sen.

Sen, a world championships bronze medallist, is expected to face Singapore's world champion Loh Kean Yew and silver medallist and compatriot Kidambi Srikanth during the tournament. While he has a 3-2 record against Loh, Sen lost to Srikanth during the 2021 World Championships.

"I don't think much about past performances and also in badminton there are so many tournaments that there is not much time. You have to move on and prepared for the next event," he said.

"But I try to learn from it, talk to my coaches and figure out some points. Next time when I am playing against them, I watch those matches, and analyse and prepare accordingly."

Sen, a product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, has been in the form of his life for about a year now. After securing his maiden world championships bronze in December last year, Sen won his first Super 500 title at India Open in January, and finished runner-up both at the All England Championships and German Open. He also played his part in India's memorable Thomas Cup win.

"I have been working on my mental discipline and on-court thinking and I have improved on that aspect in the last few months. I think playing at a very high level has given me confidence. All the experience in the last year is helping but I still have to continuously work on that a lot."

The youngsters latest favourite song 'kesariya' tops his music list. One of the things that help the 20-year-old focus is music. "I mostly listen to Hindi and Punjabi songs before matches. I like Arijit Singh and right now I am listening to his latest song 'kesariya' on a loop," he signed off.

Source: PTI