Lakshya Sen leaves for Austria for a detailed physical fitness assessment

Lakshya Sen, who made a fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics 2024, has left for Austria for his detailed physical assessment to be in the best shape before resuming his campaign on the BWF World Tour circuit.

The 22-year-old shuttler, who became the first Indian men's singles player to reach the Olympic semifinals in Paris earlier this month, will undergo a series of tests at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre in Salzburg.

Lakshya aims to evaluate his body to rev up his fitness and game.

"Lakshya is going to Austria to do some physical assessment. There is a good sports institute there, where he wants to do some physical exercise. He left today and will be back after a week,” coach Vimal Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI.

Lakshya has been accompanied by his trainer, Gaurav, and a 15-year-old junior shuttler Nishchal Chand from Uttarakhand who will be his sparring partner during his training stint.

Vimal said they consulted Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, India's Chief Medical Officer at the Paris Olympics, about Lakshya's niggles and injuries.

"The tests will focus basically on specific strength aspects. Many of the elite athletes go and get themselves tested there. We had consulted Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala for all his niggles and injuries," said Vimal.

'He needs to get super fit'

Talking about the reasons for Lakshya's physical fitness evaluation in Austria, the coach said, "Right now, he is fine but before he really starts going full-fledged, it is important for him to get the right physical training, and unless the strength and conditioning program is really spot on, he can get injuries. So we have to find the right things to do."

“He needs to definitely get better on fitness aspects, especially the speed, endurance and other things he needs to work on. Because the game he plays, it’s very fast-paced. He has to defend a lot and then he converts the defence into offense."

“When he’s playing with the wind, he needs to keep putting the shuttle down, come into the net, tumble at the net, so up and down... those sort of things it takes away a lot of your energy. So, he needs to get super fit or develop the ability to control the drift," added Vimal.

Lakshya, the World No. 16, pulled out of the Japan Open Super 750 last week. He is now set to miss the Korea Open Super 500, starting Tuesday. He will likely play at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 and China Open, the fourth and final Super 1000 event of the year, in September.