Lakshya Sen is an Indian badminton player. Sen is a former world junior no. 1. He has won gold medals at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in the boys' singles and at the Summer Youth Olympics in the mixed team event. He won the bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships and was runner-up at the 2022 All England Open. Sen was also a part of the Indian team which won the 2022 Thomas Cup. He also won the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Early Beginnings

Lakshya Sen always had the ‘shuttler genes’ in his blood. His father, Mr. D K Sen, is a national coach whereas his brother, Chirag Sen, is a renowned international badminton player. Lakshya was always intrigued by the sport that his father and sibling already played so much. As a result, whenever his father would take Chirag to the Union Bank Sub-Junior tournament, the youngest of the Sen member would convince him to accompany him.

The aspiring young shuttlers swear by the competition since it is a platform where Vimal Kumar, director at the Prakash Padukone Academy, scouts his next pupils.

Chirag won the U-13 title with relative ease, boosting his chances of admission to one of India’s most revered badminton academies. Watching his brother play, Lakshya got seriously inspired. Before he knew it, he straightaway asked Vimal if he could play at the academy too.

A bemused Vimal gave the youngster, who had not even aged in double digits, a chance to prove himself in the form of a trial.

What impressed Vimal and Prakash Padukone about the gritty youngster was how he took winning in badminton seriously. In a recent interview, Kumar revealed how Sen used to cry after even a single defeat.

Career

2016

Having trained at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, Sen had shown his talent as a badminton player at a very young age, and had a brilliant year in the junior badminton circuit in 2016. He clinched the bronze medal at Junior Asian Championship after losing to Sun Feixiang 12–21,16–21. Coincidently, Sen lost to Sun again in the pre-quarters of Junior World Championship 21–17,8–21 and 13–21,His team finished 8th in the team event. Sen also competed in the senior international level and won the men's singles title at the 2016 India International Series tournament.

2017

Sen started the year at Syed Modi International where he lost in the pre-quarters to compatriot Sourabh Verma 14–21,16–21. Sen became the number one junior singles player in BWF World Junior ranking in February 2017. At the Junior Asian Championship, Sen was seeded as no.1 but lost in the pre-quarters to Lin Chun-yi 21–13,23–25 and 20–22. Sen reached the Quarter-finals of Vietnam Open before losing to Kodai Naraoka 21–17,21–23 and 10–21. Sen was seeded as no.2 at the Junior World Championship but in the Quarter-finals, he again lost to Kodai Naraoka 21–14,17–21,14–21.

2018

Sen defeated Cheam June Wei a much higher ranked player than him 21–11,21–16 in straight games at the New Zealand Open but lost to 2 time Olympic gold medallist and seed no.1 Lin Dan 21–15,15–21 and 12–21. At the Australian Open, He lost to seed no.7 Lee Cheuk Yiu 20–22,21–13 and 19–21. Sen emerged as the champion at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships defeating the top seeded World Junior No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final 21–19,21–18.

At the Hyderabad Open, Sen lost to seed no. 8 Heo Kwang-hee 13–21 and 12–21. Sen defeated seed no.2 Sitthikom Thammasin 21–14,21–19 in the pre-quarters of 2018 Bangka Belitung Indonesia Masters but lost to seed no.7 Lin Yu-hsien 21–12,20–21 and 14–21 in the Quarter-finals.

Sen participated at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics as the fourth seeded. He settled for boys' singles silver medal after losing to Chinese player Li Shifeng in straight games 15–21, 19–21. He also competed in the mixed team event, and helped team Alpha win the gold medal.

Sen clinched the bronze medal at the BWF Junior World Championships after losing to the eventual champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semi-finals 22–20,16–21,13–21.

2019

Sen won the Belgian International tournament by beating Victor Svendsen 21–14 and 21–15. Sen clinched his first BWF Tour title by winning the Dutch Open men's singles title after beating Yusuke Onodera of Japan. The Dutch Open is a BWF Tour Super 100 tournament. In November 2019, he won the SaarLorLux Open which is a BWF Tour Super 100 tournament held in Saarbrücken, Germany. He defeated China's Weng Hongyang in the final to claim the title.

He won the men's singles title in the 2019 Scottish Open in November, with a victory against Brazilian Ygor Coelho.

2020

Sen was a member of the Indian team which clinched the bronze medal at 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships.

Sen reached the 2nd round of 2020 All England Open which was his 1st ever BWF Super 1000 Tournament before losing to the champion and world no.1 Viktor Axelsen 17–21 and 18–21. He lost to Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21–15,7–21 and 15–21 in 2nd round of the 2020 Denmark Open. Sen was seeded as no.2 at 2020 SaarLorLux Open but withdrew due to an injury. The Covid-19 Pandemic restricted him to play any more international BWF Tournaments in the year.

2021

In December, he reached the World Championships semifinals where he lost to compatriot Srikanth Kidambi in a hard-fought match 21–17, 14–21, 17–21 and settled for a bronze medal.

2022

In January, he defeated the reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew in the India Open final, thus clinching his first Super 500 title. He defeated Loh in two straight games 24–22, 21–17. In the German Open, Lakshya defeated World No.1 Viktor Axelsen in the semifinals, but lost the finals to Kunlavut Vitidsarn. He then defeated World No. 3 Anders Antonsen and World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia to reach the finals of the 2022 All England Open. He lost the finals to Viktor Axelsen 10–21, 15–21. He subsequently withdrew from the Swiss Open, as he was tired after playing 2 back-to-back BWF tournaments finals. Lakshya Sen was part of the Indian men's team for 2022 Thomas Cup. The team went on to win the Thomas Cup by beating Indonesia 3–0, with Sen winning his match against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. He became Commonwealth champion at 2022 Commonwealth Games by defeating Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia in the final. Sen was also part of the Indian team that won silver in the mixed team event.

2023

In February, Lakshya Sen was a member of the Indian team which clinched the bronze medal at Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships.

On July 9, Lakshya Sen defeated China's Li Shifeng in straight sets 21-18, 22-20 in the final of 2023 Canada Open in Calgary, Canada.

Achievements of Lakshya Sen

• Bronze at the 2016 Asia Juniors Championships
• Gold at the 2016 India International Series
• Silver at the 2017 Tata Open India International
• Gold at the 2017 India International Series
• Gold at the 2017 Eurasian Bulgarian Open
• Silver at the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympics
• Gold at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships, Bangkok
• Bronze at the 2018 World Junior Championships, Canada
• Silver at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, Argentina
• Bronze at the 2021 World Championship, Huelva, Spain
• Gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham

Records of Lakshya Sen

List of all the top shuttlers he has beaten in 2022

– Viktor Axelsen (2021 Olympic champion)
– Anthony Ginting (2021 Olympic bronze medal winner)
– Loh Kean Yew (2021 World champion)
– Anders Antonsen (2021 World bronze medalist)
– Lee Jii Zia (2021 All England champion)

Career Stats

World Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2021	Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín, Huelva, Spain	Srikanth Kidambi	21–17, 14–21, 17–21	Bronze

Commonwealth Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2022	National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England	Ng Tze Yong	19–21, 21–9, 21–16	Gold

Youth Olympic Games

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Tecnópolis, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Li Shifeng	15–21, 19–21	Silver

World Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Markham Pan Am Centre, Markham, Canada	Kunlavut Vitidsarn	22–20, 16–21, 13–21	Bronze

Asia Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	CPB Badminton Training Center, Bangkok, Thailand	Sun Feixiang	12–21, 16–21	Bronze
2018	Jaya Raya Sports Hall Training Center, Jakarta, Indonesia	Kunlavut Vitidsarn	21–19, 21–18	Gold