Belgian Open Title Will Give Me Confidence for Upcoming Tournaments: Lakshya
Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen is hoping to continue the consistency that fetched him the Belgian Open as he looks to break into top 50 in the world ranking, which will help him qualify for bigger tournaments next season.
New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen is hoping to continue the consistency that fetched him the Belgian Open as he looks to break into top 50 in the world ranking, which will help him qualify for bigger tournaments next season.
The 18-year-old from Almora shocked second seed Victor Svendsen of Denmark in straight games to clinch the men's singles title at the Belgian International Challenge last Saturday.
"I think I played consistently well throughout the week and I'm happy with my performance," Lakshya, who didn't drop a single game throughout the tournament, told PTI.
"This win will give me lots of confidence to do well in the coming tournaments," he said.
"This year I can play more tournaments than last year in the senior circuit and I hope to prepare well for all the tournaments."
Playing his first full-fledged season in the senior circuit, Lakshya had broken into the top-100 in March this year. The Belgian Open win saw him jump 12 places to grab the World No 67th spot in the latest BWF ranking.
His father DK Sen, a SAI coach, who gave him the early lessons in badminton, said Lakshya will have to quickly get into the top 50 by the year end.
"The target now for him will be to break into the top 50 by end of the year so that he can qualify for bigger tournaments," he said.
Asked about his upcoming tournaments, Lakshya, the reigning Asian Junior Championship winner, said: "I'll be playing the Dutch and SaarLorLux Open next month and then in November, I have Irish and Scottish Open."
Lakshya, who also claimed a bronze at the World Junior Championship and silver at Youth Olympic Games last year, is currently in Europe playing in the Danish League for Aarhus club.
"It's nice to be in Denmark and the league matches are exiting. It's a new experience for me," he said.
"We are going to be in Europe for 3 months, play the European circuit and the league matches.
"In the first team match, I won against Jan Jorgensen and got 1 point for the team. It was a big match for me," added the Indian, whose next outing in the country will be the Syed Modi World Tour Super 300.
Lakshya, who has been a trainee at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) since 2010, had decided to play in the season circuit after the high in juniors last year.
He begun the year well with a semifinal finish at the China Masters Super 100 tournament before reaching the finals at Polish Open. After a few early exits, he suffered an ankle injury in July but recovered well to claim the Belgian Open.
"This year, I twisted my ankle in July. It was not very major but I took two weeks to get back on court. I'm just taking good care and rehab," Lakshya said.
"Mental strength is very important as in senior circuit every match is tough," he signed off. PTI ATK SSC SSC 09181706 NNNNnd Kedar Jadhav (44) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (46) just reduced the defeat margin. Their 91-run stand off 103 balls, however, showed that there were no demons in the wicket.
Earlier, opener Usman Khawaja, who had not scored a century before arriving to India for this series, hit an exact 100 off 106 balls as he shared two big partnerships at the top of the order to set platform for the visiting side.
Australia were placed comfortably at 175 for one and set for a kill in slog overs, but India came back when Bhuneshwar got rid off Khawaja in the last ball of the 33rd over.
The visitors added only 97 runs in last 17 overs for the loss of seven wickets.
The left-handed Khawaja first raised a 76-run stand with Aaron Finch (27) after his skipper elected to bat in hazy and overcast conditions and followed it up with a 99-run partnership with Peter Handscomb (52).
Khawaja was yet again impressive with his footwork, handling the Indian spinners nicely before being caught at shot extra cover by Kohli off Bhuvneshwar. The left-hander hit 10 fours and two sixes before driving straight to Kohli.
Jadeja then got rid of Glenn Maxwell (1) and Shami sent back Handscomb as Australia lost three wickets in the space of 14 balls.
Jadeja, who replaced Yuzvendra Chahal, made a strong case for himself for inclusion in the World Cup squad with figures of 10-0-45-2.
Jasprit Bumrah was exceptional in his first eight overs giving just 14 runs but Jhye Richradson (29) spoilt his figures by creaming off four boundaries from his ninth over, providing one last push to Australian innings.
It turned out to be a forgettable day for chinaman Kuldeep Yadav who bled 74 runs in his 10 overs but he dismissed dangerous Ashton Turner (20) cheaply.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)