Lakshya Sen rediscovers mojo with All England Championships semifinal finish

Over the past week at the All England Championships, thanks to his decision to swap half-sleeved T-shirts for sleeveless ones, Lakshya Sen’s love of ink has been getting more airtime. On the skin of his left deltoid are a couple of tattoos that read ‘Believe’ and ‘Never Give Up’.

That’s been the theme for Lakshya over the last fortnight.

When he headed into the French Open at the start of March, the 22-year-old seemed to be treading water. In a streak that began last August, he had never made it past the first round in eight tournaments as he racked up a dismal 3-11 record. Ranked 12th in the world in July last year, the extended plunge in form saw him nearly fall off the top 20 rankings by the start of February 2024. The dip had even seemed to follow him in domestic competition; he lost to unheralded Bharat Raghav in the quarterfinals of the national championships.

A temporary slump might be something most athletes take in their stride. But in this Olympic year, where only the top 16 of the world are guaranteed qualification for the Paris Games in July, there was the very real possibility that the former world bronze medallist, who was once considered one of India’s best bets at the Olympics, might not even make the cut.

But where it mattered most, Lakshya seems to have rediscovered his mojo. A semifinal finish at the French Open brought him some much-needed breathing room. Then, at the All England Championships, Lakshya looked like he had rediscovered some of the touch that saw him make the 2022 finals in Birmingham, with a semifinal finish this time.

He beat World No. 4 and the form player of the season, Anders Antonsen, in the second round and former All-England champion Lee Zii Jia in the quarterfinals. At times, Lakshya was teetering on the edge in both matches; he shrugged off a 6-12 deficit in the decider against Antonsen and was soundly beaten 21-13 in the opening game of his quarterfinals against Jia.

Then, in the semifinals, he bounced back from a game down to force a decider and even briefly held the edge before falling short against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, who would go on to win the title.

The result leapfrogged Lakshya five places to 13 in the latest world ranking and assured that he would be in Paris in four months. But more significantly, Lakshya is not just scraping his way through anymore. Having found himself in a rich vein of form, he now has a significant tailwind behind him to take him to the French capital.

This outcome again places Lakshya’s name in the discussion of India’s top hopes for Paris. While he didn’t start the week among the favourites, Lakshya proved his mettle in men’s singles as other Indian players faltered: H.S. Prannoy lost to Su Li Yang, P.V. Sindhu to An Se Young, and Chirag Shetty with Satwik Rankireddy in men’s doubles to Bagas Maulana and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri. During an interview with Sportstar at the India Open, Lakshya’s coach, Vimal Kumar, highlighted that the issue lies more in his mindset than his physical ability.

“He is injury-free, and he’s training well, but of course, if you look at the last 4-5 months, he’s been struggling at events,” Kumar had said. “At the moment, he is low on confidence, and he’s not playing the right game. That variation, he’s not bringing in. He’s trying to hit through in these sorts of (slow) conditions. He has to be patient, and [he isn’t]. He’s a little anxious; that’s also an issue. Every athlete goes through this, but he’s taking time to come out of it.”

For now, at least, it seems Lakshya has found his way out of the maze.

It’s true that some work still needs to be done. Lakshya admitted as much following his loss in the semifinals at All England.

Although he had seemingly swung the momentum with a dominant second game against Christie, the Indonesian found a second wind in the decider, which Lakshya wasn’t able to match. Although he had won two consecutive three-game matches in the run-up to the semifinal, it was clear that the Indian was not quite as fast towards the end of his match against Christie. Net shots that would clear the net cord would now be lifted a few extra inches, just enough time for Christie to make net shots.

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The reason was obvious. While Lakshya had been drained after spending two and a half hours of high-intensity badminton in the two days before his semifinal, Christie had spent just one hour and 33 minutes (owing to China’s Shi Yuqi pulling out after the first game in his quarterfinal match) on the court.

“All the matches that I’ve played were long, and I could feel it in the recovery and the next day’s match preparation,” Lakshya would say in the BWF mixed zone after the defeat. “Some matches, I started slow in the first set, even having a good lead and then not being able to convert those first-setters that then went on to three games. I won some of those, but I know this is one thing that I want to improve: close matches in two games. So that I’m a bit fresher,” he would say.

For a player who’s no stranger to success at the international level and who has made the final at All England previously, a semifinal finish did indeed leave him a little unsatisfied, but he’s able to see the bigger picture as well. “I’m pretty disappointed with the result. But overall, the way I played over two weeks, surely I have the level to be up there and win in the big tournaments,” Lakshya said. “I’ll sit back, discuss with my coaches, and try to analyse the two weeks much better because, as of now, I was just focusing on the next match after every game. Now it’s time to reflect and watch those matches again. Take good things and keep learning from the mistakes that happen,” Lakshya said.