Badminton
'Eyes on 2020': This 2013 interview with Lakshya Sen will melt your heart
Lashya Sen missed the long-term target he had set for himself 8 years ago, but he has ensured he will be the youngest Indian male to win a Badminton World Championships medal.
Lakshya Sen has been training at the Prakash Padukone badminton academy since his junior days. (OGQ)
Lakshya Sen wanted to compete in the 2020 Olympics, according to an interview he did as a 12-year-old eight years ago. That chance might have passed him by, but he has ensured he will be the youngest Indian male to win a Badminton World Championships medal. On Saturday, when he faces off against Kidambi Srikanth in an all-Indian men's singles semifinal, he will also be looking to be the first ever Indian male to reach the final of the prestigious event.
Follow LIVE | Lakshya Sen vs Kidambi Srikanth, World Championships Men's Singles Semifinal
In 2013, Lakshya Sen had given an interview on the sidelines of the U15 national championships, where he had clinched the singles as well as the doubles titles, marking him out as the next big thing in Indian badminton.
"My long-term aim is 2020 Olympics. My short-term aim was this tournament I just won," Lakshya, then a student of Class 8, had said.
On his favourite sportspersons, he had said: "Prakash Padukone and Lee Chong Wei. Prakash Padukone because he's my coach and he won the All England Open title. Lee Chong Wei, I don't know, he's a good player."
Lakshya Sen, a former junior world number one, now 20, made his biggest splash in the senior circuit this week by ensuring a medal on his World Championship debut. With Kidambi Srikanth drawn against him on Saturday, for the first time, there'll at least be one Indian in the World Championship final.
He has already joined an elite list of Indian men shuttlers to have clinched the BWF World Championship medal. While Prakash Padukone bagged the bronze in 1983, Sai Praneeth followed the same suit in 2019. Lakshya Sen is also the second youngest Indian shuttler after PV Sindhu to clinch a World Championship medal.
