Meet Lakshya Sen: Shuttler Who Began From Almora, Scripted History At Paris Olympics
India's Lakshya Sen made history by advancing to the men's singles semi-finals at the Paris 2024 badminton tournament on Friday. Despite being unseeded, Lakshya Sen came from behind to beat Chou Tien-chen from Chinese Taipei, who was seeded 12th, in a tough match that ended 19-21, 21-15, 21-12.
Lakshya Sen was born on August 16, 2001, in Almora, Uttarakhand. In 2016, he trained at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy and had a great year in junior badminton. He won a bronze medal at the Junior Asia Championships but lost to China's Sun Feixiang with scores of 12-21, 16-21. In 2017, Sen experienced a few early exits in tournaments, including the Syed Modi International and the Junior Asia Championships.
In 2017, Lakshya Sen reached the quarter-finals of the Vietnam Open but lost to Japan's Kodai Naraoka. He faced Naraoka again in the Junior World Championships that year and lost once more.
In 2021, Lakshya Sen earned a bronze medal at the BWF World Championships after losing to Kidambi Srikanth in the semi-finals with scores of 21-17, 14-21, 17-21.
2022 was a breakthrough year for Sen, as he reached the final of the prestigious All England Open, where he eventually lost to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. That year, Sen achieved major success by winning the Thomas Cup trophy with the Indian team, which included players like Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, and the Satwik-Chirag pair.
In 2022, Lakshya Sen reached his career-best ranking of World No. 6 in the BWF World Rankings. He also won the India Open in 2022 and the Canada Open in 2023.
Here are Lakshya Sen's achievements:
- He won a bronze medal in boys' singles at the 2016 Asian Junior Championships in Bangkok.
- He won a gold medal in boys' singles at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in Jakarta.
- He won a gold medal in the mixed team event at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
- He won a silver medal in boys' singles at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
- He won a bronze medal with the men's team at the 2020 Asia Team Championships in Manila.
- He won a bronze medal in men's singles at the 2021 BWF World Championships.
- He won a gold medal in men's singles at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
- He won a silver medal in the mixed team event at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
- He won a gold medal with the men's team at the 2022 Thomas Cup in Bangkok.
- He won a bronze medal in the mixed team event at the Asia Mixed Team Championships.
- He won the India Open in men's singles in 2022.
- He won the Canada Open in men's singles in 2023.
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