Lakshya Sen
Lakshya Sen is an Indian badminton player. He is a bronze medalist at the World Championships and a gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games. Sen won the gold at the Thomas Cup, and silver at the Asian and Commonwealth Games with the team. He also won bronze medals at the Asia Team and Asia Mixed Team Championships. Sen competed in the men's singles event at the 2024 Olympics, where he finished fourth after narrowly losing the bronze medal match.
Early life
Sen was born on 16 August 2001 to Nirmala and Dhirendra Sen in the Almora district of Uttarakhand. They shifted to Bangalore for the sake of his badminton career. Sen is a third generation shuttler from his family. His grandfather Chandra Lal Sen and his father were badminton players. His elder brother Chirag Sen is also a professional shuttler.Career
2009: Early steps
Sen was about ten years old when he walked into Vimal Kumar's office at the Karnataka Badminton Association in Bengaluru, stood on his toes to reach the table and gave him a handwritten note with scoreline details. He wanted to join the academy to get better at badminton to beat his opponents.2016: Junior level tournaments
Having trained at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, Sen showed his talent as a badminton player at a young age. In 2014, he won the Swiss Junior International. He also had a brilliant year in the 2016 junior badminton circuit. He won the bronze medal at the [2016 Badminton Asia Junior Championships β Boys' singles|Junior Asian Games|Asian Championship] after losing to Sun Feixiang 12β21, 16β21. Coincidently, Sen lost to Sun again in the pre-quarters of [2016 Badminton World Federation|BWF World Junior Championships β Boys' singles|Junior World Championship] 21β17, 8β21 and 13β21. His team finished 8th in the team event. Sen then competed at the senior international level and won the 2016 India International Series tournament title.2017: World junior #1
Sen started off at Syed Modi International where he lost in pre-quarters to compatriot Sourabh Verma 14β21, 16β21. He then 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 21β13, 23β25 and 20β22. Sen reached the Quarter-finals of Vietnam Open before losing to Kodai Naraoka 21β17, 21β23 and 10β21. Sen was then seeded as No. 2 at the Junior World Championship but in the quarter-finals, he lost to Kodai Naraoka 21β14, 17β21, 14β21.2018: Asian Junior Champion and Youth Olympics medalist
Sen defeated Cheam June Wei, a much higher ranked player than him 21β11, 21β16 in straight games at the New Zealand Open but lost to 2 time Olympic gold medallist and seed No.1 Lin Dan 21β15, 15β21 and 12β21. At the [2018 2018 Australian Open (badminton)|Australian Open (badminton)|Australian Open], he lost to seed No.7 Lee Cheuk Yiu 20β22, 21β13 and 19β21. Sen emerged as the champion at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships defeating the top seeded World Junior No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final 21β19, 21β18.At the Hyderabad Open, Sen lost to seed No. 8 Heo Kwang-hee 13β21 and 12β21. Sen defeated seed No.2 Sitthikom Thammasin 21β14, 21β19 at the 2018 Indonesia Masters but lost to seed No.7 Lin Yu-hsien 21β12, 20β21 and 14β21 in the Quarter-finals.
Sen participated at the [Badminton at the Badminton at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics β Boys' singles|2018 Summer Youth Olympics|2018 Summer Youth Olympics] as the fourth seeded. He settled for the silver medal in the boys' singles after losing to Chinese player Li Shifeng in straight games 15β21, 19β21. 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 22β20, 16β21, 13β21.
2019β2021: Back-to-back tour titles
Sen won the 2019 Belgian International tournament by beating Victor Svendsen 21β14 and 21β15. He clinched his first BWF Tour title by winning the Dutch Open title after beating Yusuke Onodera of Japan. In November, he won the Hylo Open held in SaarbrΓΌcken, Germany. He defeated China's Weng Hongyang to claim the title. He won the 2019 Scottish Open next, with a victory against Brazilian Ygor Coelho.Sen was a member of the Indian team which clinched the bronze at 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships. He reached the 2nd round of 2020 All England Open, his first BWF Super 1000 Tournament before losing to champion and world No.1 Viktor Axelsen 17β21 and 18β21. He lost to Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21β15, 7β21 and 15β21 in 2nd round of the 2020 Denmark Open. Sen was seeded as No.2 at 2020 Hylo Open but withdrew due to an injury. The Covid-19 pandemic restricted him from playing more international BWF tournaments that year.
In December, he reached the semifinal of the [2021 BWF BWF World Championships|World Championships β Men's singles|2021 World Championships] where he lost to compatriot Srikanth Kidambi in a hard-fought match 21β17, 14β21, 17β21 and settled for a bronze medal during the edition.
2022: Thomas Cup victory and Commonwealth gold
In January, he defeated the reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew in the India Open final, thus clinching his first Super 500 title. Sen defeated him in two straight games 24β22, 21β17. In the German Open, Sen 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 10β21, 15β21.Sen was a part of the men's team for 2022 Thomas Cup. The team went on to win the final by beating Indonesia 3β0, with him winning his match against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. He became the Commonwealth champion at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, defeating Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia in the final. Sen was also a part of the team that won the silver in the mixed team event.
2023: Canada Open title and Asian Games silver
In February, Sen was a member of the Indian team that clinched the bronze medal at Asia Mixed Team Championships. In July, he defeated China's Li Shifeng in straight sets 21-18, 22-20 in the finals and won the 2023 Canada Open. Sen was a part of the team that won the silver medal in the men's team event at 2022 Asian Games.2024: 4th at Paris Olympics
Sen participated in the Olympic Games held in Paris. He defeated third seeded Jonatan Christie in the group stage and progressed to the knockout stage. After winning against his compatriot Prannoy H. S. in the round of 16, he defeated Chou Tien-chen in the quarter finals. However he was stopped by the second seeded Viktor Axelsen in the semifinal stage. He finished fourth after losing the bronze medal match to Lee Zii Jia, scripting the best ever performance by a male badminton player from India. Post his journey at the Olympics, Sen won the S300 title of Syed Modi International by defeating Singaporean Jason Teh 21-6, 21-7 in a dominating match. He ended the year by winning the bronze medal at the inaugural Kings Cup hosted by icon Lin Dan.2025βnow: Australian Open champion
At the 2025 All England Open, he started off with a tricky win against Su Li-yang. He carried the momentum forward in the next round where he faced defending champion Jonatan Christie. Sen won in straight sets with a scoreline of 21β13, 21β10. Through the year, he had few early exits but managed to get to Hong Kong Open final and Denmark Open as well as Hylo Open quarter-finals. His first title of the year came at Australian Open when he beat Yushi Tanaka 21β15, 21β11 to clinch the awaited title.Coaching
Vimal Kumar is his coach while former player Prakash Padukone is his mentor. For brief periods of time, Sen has been coached by Yoo Yong-sung. He has also undergone training stints under Morten Frost and Peter Gade. His conditioning coach is Paddy Upton. In addition to his training sessions, Sen takes on ice baths, steam and sauna, and joint mobilisation work routines.Achievements
World Championships
Men's singles| Year | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Palacio de los Deportes Carolina MarΓn, Huelva, Spain |  Commonwealth GamesMen's singles
|
OG2
gold1