Lakshya Sen ends season with career-best ranking
The young shuttler recently won the Bangladesh Challenger title.
Indian badminton prodigy Lakshya Sen continued his stellar rise in the world of badminton as he moved up nine places in the BWF rankings to occupy the 32nd place.
The 18-year-old shuttler recently claimed the Bangladesh Challenger title, beating Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao 22-20, 21-18 in the final.
The Indian was supremely dominant in that competition, winning all his matches convincingly without dropping a single game. That solid display in Dhaka saw him move up nine places in the BWF rankings, augmenting his chances of making the cut for Tokyo 2020.
A solid season
The past year has been brilliant for young Lakshya Sen, as he made his mark on the international stage with some terrific performances in BWF events. Prior to the Bangladesh Challenger triumph, the Indian claimed the title at the Scottish Open, SaarLorLux Open and the 2019 Dutch Open.
Sen also bagged the title at the Yonex Belgian International competition which was held in September, beating Denmark’s Victor Svendsen in the final. The Indian shuttler also got to the final of the 2019 Polish Open, losing a closely contested final on that occasion.
Other Indians in the fray
Apart from Lakshya Sen’s meteoric rise, the men’s doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have also enjoyed a solid season, and find themselves in 12th place. The duo won the Thailand Open earlier this year and also reached the final of the French Open.
In the women’s singles category, former Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal find themselves in sixth and 11th positions respectively. The men’s singles sees Sai Praneeth as the best ranked Indian in 11th place, with Srikanth Kidambi following suit in 12th place.
Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap remains in 23rd position, followed by HS Prannoy (26th) and Sourabh Verma (28th).