Badminton News: His maiden Asian Games medal and entry into the world top five remain on his radar, but Lakshya Sen’s top priority is to build on his rich run at the World Championships next week.

Lakshya Sen is counting on his recent form to reap the best results.

After a tough time, Sen turned things around by winning the Canadian title in July and following that with two semi-finals at the US Open and Japan Open 2023.

The 21-year-old from Almora, who won her first bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships, will be hoping for another medal when she begins her campaign in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 21.

“The World Championships are a week away, I think the previous tournaments I’ve been in will really help me get into the tournament,” Sen told PTI on the sidelines of the inauguration of the National Center of Excellence in Indian Badminton Association.

“The preparations have been good. In the last tournaments his form is going well, but there are still a few things to learn and improve. Over time it will get better and the preparation for the matches for this tournament has been very good because I I’ve played a lot of good games in the past, and that will give me a lot of confidence.”

“In another week or 10 days, I’m looking forward to training really well and doing well at the World Championships.”

The Asian Games, a multi-sport continental event, to be held from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China, is another major event on its radar.

“It’s a very big event that happens once every four years, so it’s a special event. I played such a big event twice in my career. I played in the Youth Olympics and the Commonwealth Games so meeting all the players and watching different sports was a great learning experience for me,” he said.

“So, I hope to do well at the Asian Games, but for now the first priority is the World Championships and then we will focus on the Asian Games.”

Lakshya Sen went through a difficult phase after the world championships in August last year and quickly saw his world ranking jump from six to 25. He is currently ranked 11th in the world after a series of strong performances in recent weeks and hopes break into the world top 5 next year.

“I want to be in the top 8 in the world straight away, then the goal is to be in the top 5 by the end of Olympic qualifying. But, again, at the same time, there are tons of tournaments. So the priority is to win big tournaments and the ranking will automatically be maintained,” he said.

Article Tags: Lakshya Sen, BWF World Championships 2023