Sen, who became the first Indian in 21 years to reach the All England final at Arena Birmingham four months ago, eyes successful return to venue for CWG
India’s Lakshya Sen returns to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen during the men’s singles final at the All England Open Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in March this year. Pic/Getty Images
Lakshya Sen, the new poster boy of Indian badminton, has some unfinished business in Birmingham.
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Four months ago, it was in Birmingham that he became the first Indian man in 21 years to reach the final of the All England Championship, only to see the gold medal slip out of his hands.
Sen, 20, from Almora, will have another opportunity to dazzle in Arena Birmingham this year and he is keen to go all the way, albeit, in a different tournament—the Commonwealth Games, beginning on July 28.
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One match at a time
“I like playing in that hall, the conditions suit me. I have good memories there and I am very confident that I will do well this time too. This is also a big tournament, so I am looking forward to giving my best and winning a medal,” Sen said.
“All the top three-four players have a good chance of winning the gold and I am not thinking about the colour of the medal, I just want to go there and focus on one match at a time.
“I have been thinking a lot about how as a team we can repeat the achievement we got last time. It will be a tough to win but I am looking forward to it.” While England has been the most successful team with eight titles and five-time champions Malaysia also emerged as a dominating force between 1998 and 2014, India managed to tame the Asian giants in the last edition.
‘Malaysia, a good team’
This time, Malaysia will be without their top singles player Lee Zia Jia, ranked 5th in the world, but Sen reckons it will not make the job any easier. “Malaysia, a good team, they have five-six decent singles players. So one pulling out, maybe, it affects them but we are just hoping that we play well and beat Malaysia and win the gold.”
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