World badminton medal in pocket, Lakshya Sen targets Paris 2024 Olympics podium

Lakshya Sen created history by becoming the youngest Indian badminton player to  win a men’s singles medal, a bronze, at the world badminton championships in Huelva, Spain.

Making his tournament debut, the world No. 19 Lakshya Sen knocked out world No. 17 Kenta Nishimoto and Tokyo 2020 semi-finalist Kevin Cordon on his way to the podium.

The 20-year-old, however, does not want to relax and has already shifted focus on winning a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“The next Olympics is three years from now… My aim is to get into the top 10 and remain there till the Olympics so that I can qualify and win a medal,” Lakshya Sen told Olympics.com.

Lakshya Sen could not make it to the Tokyo Olympics after missing a number of tournaments due to a back injury and also because of the reduced opportunities in the COVID-19-affected badminton calendar.

The youngster from Almora, Uttarakhand featured in seven tournaments in 2020 but could not go past the Round of 16 in any.

However, Lakshya Sen has been on an upward trajectory in the last three months.

He has featured in eight international competitions, finishing runner-up at the Dutch Open and third in three others - Hylo Open, World Tour Finals. The world championships bronze will be a career highlight.

“It’s been an exciting year, playing in all the big events. I am going all out in all the tournaments so it’s a different experience for me,” Lakshya said. “I worked a lot during the pandemic. I improved my fitness but I still have to get better”

A Youth Olympics silver medallist, Lakshya Sen has also gone up from rank 104 in 2019 to 19th in 2021 and he attributes the rise to his time in the junior circuit.

“I have played a lot of series, challenge and GP level tournaments. I was still playing in the juniors in 2019. Those tournaments helped me a lot as I faced different kinds of players.”

Lakshya Sen even earned praise from world championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth, who defeated the youngster in the semi-final on Saturday.

“Lakshya is very young, passionate and works hard for it. I am extremely happy to see where he has reached today. He definitely has a lot of potential,” Srikanth said.

Despite being among the best, Lakshya Sen is aware that it’ll take a lot more to consistently reach the podium in the senior circuit.

“I am trying to build up my strength, stamina, skills and my overall game,” Lakshya Sen concluded.