Injured Lakshya Sen to miss Bangkok leg of Asian badminton events
Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen has been advised a few weeks rest after spraining his back during training in Bengaluru.
India’s Lakshya Sen will miss the Asian events when international badminton gets underway for the first time this season in Thailand later this month.
The 19-year-old Sen is recovering from injury and the doctors have advised a few weeks rest before he can return to the court.
“Lakshya sprained his back a few days back. He consulted the doctor yesterday. Though it doesn’t look serious, he has been advised a few weeks rest before resume training,” an official at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), Lakshya Sen’s training centre, told the Olympic Channel.
“He will miss the two Thailand Open events this month, but we are confident that Lakshya will be back for future competitions.”
Lakshya Sen, a silver medallist from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, was among the handful who made the most of the few international events in 2020.
Though the Indian youngster couldn’t go deep into the competitions, his win over Asian Games gold medallist Jonathan Christie of Indonesia at the Badminton Asia Team Championships and a fighting performance against former world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark at the All England Championships made him an instant hit.
The performances also saw him climb to a career-best ranking of 27 in March last year, just before the rankings were frozen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
PV Sindhu leaves for Bangkok
Meanwhile, the Indian contingent for the Asian leg of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) events left for Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday. With the bio-bubble agreement between Thailand and India yet to be finalised, the Indian badminton players will travel to Dubai before embarking on their journey to the Thai capital.
World champion PV Sindhu is expected to reach Bangkok from the UK, her training base, on Sunday.
Thailand is set to host two Super 1000 events apart from the BWF World Tour Finals from January 12 to 31.
The local organisers have laid down strict guidelines for shuttlers and officials travelling for the competitions, including a negative RT-PCR test result (72 hours before arriving in Bangkok) and a mandatory 14-day quarantine at the official hotel.