Mumbai: It had been almost a year since shuttler Lakshya Sen last won a title. But he has come close. He had reached the quarter-final at four events this year and got to the summit clash of the prestigious All England Championships for the second time in his career. Then there were the injuries and niggles that kept him away from a few events.
The title adds to his growing list of accolades, which includes the bronze medals he won at the Thomas Cup and men’s team event at the Asian Games earlier this year. “I was focused on taking it one point at a time. I had a big lead at the start of the second game. It was a comfortable lead and probably (you could think about winning) and (it’s difficult to) not get affected by it. But I’ve tried to be smart about my training and the match loads around it. The week in Germany started off with three consecutive three-game matches, including the opener against Finland’s Joakim Oldorff, which Sen came from behind to win.
It was that belief in himself and confidence in his game that came to the fore last week, as Sen clinched the BWF Super 500 HYLO Open in Saarbrucken, Germany. In the final he beat familiar foe and former world No.1 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-17, 21-10. The first game of the final turned out to be quite long, with Sen letting go of a decent lead before finally securing the first game 21-17. In the second though, which he won 21-10, he was running away with the win. As the tournament progressed though, the world No.13 felt more and more comfortable on court.
“The confidence has always been there, but due to some niggles I couldn’t really perform to my level.
I’m happy that it happened last week, it feels good,” he said.
“(Earlier in the season) the performances didn’t go as planned, but I was ready and fighting hard to win every tournament I played. But I just wanted to finish the match off and win the tournament,” he said on Tuesday, during a virtual interaction organised by the Badminton Association of India (BAI).
