Lakshya Sen Targets Asian Games and BWF World Championships After Runner-Up Finish at All England Open

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India's leading shuttler in men's singles, Lakshya Sen, has said his main focus for the remainder of the season will be on two major tournaments, the Asian Games and the BWF World Championships. The Indian shuttler said that he aims to carefully manage his fitness following a demanding run at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham. Lakshya recently lost to Lin Chun Yi from Chinese Taipei in the finals of All England Open.

The 24-year-old Indian shuttler finished runner-up at the prestigious tournament for the second time in his career. After a physically taxing week, he has decided to skip the ongoing Swiss Open in Basel, opting instead to prioritise recovery before returning to competition.

Speaking during a media interaction, Sen explained that the two marquee events later this year remain his primary targets. He revealed that he plans to sit down with his coaching team to analyse his performance at the All England and assess how his training block leading into the tournament worked.

Sen's journey to the final in Birmingham was far from straightforward. The world No. 12 began the tournament with a major upset over top seed Shi Yuqi before overcoming Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong and former champion Li Shifeng in subsequent rounds. He then booked his place in the final after battling past Canada's Victor Lai in a gruelling semifinal encounter.

The demanding nature of the tournament took a toll on the Indian shuttler, particularly during the semifinal that stretched for 97 minutes. Sen admitted that he struggled with cramps during the match and that the physical fatigue made it difficult to fully recover in time for the final.

He noted that the week involved several long and intense matches from the very first round, which gradually drained his energy levels. By the latter stages of the competition, the accumulated fatigue in his muscles became evident. Sen added that while he experienced cramping and exhaustion, the demanding schedule likely affected his opponent as well, given the number of matches played during the week.

"I mean, the last semifinal that I played against took some toll on the body, especially when I was cramping during the match. I did everything I could to recover well and come back fresh on the finals day as well. But yeah, the cramping in the semifinals was a little bit too hard to fully recover from the next day," he said.

"Even during the match and after it, the muscles were under a lot of fatigue. Quite long matches the whole week, right from day one they were long games. Eventually the muscles got tired. Even on the semi-final day I was getting a lot of cramps and stuff. But I guess it was similar for my opponent as well because he had also played five matches that week," he added.