Jayce
Indian badminton prodigy Lakshya Sen has decided to change his coach after suffering 11 first-round exits, as he prepares for the Paris Olympics in July this year.
Lakshya, whose official birth year is 2001, is one of the most successful players born in the 2000s and has even defeated Viktor Axelsen. At the end of 2022, he was embroiled in an “age scandal,” with allegations that he had falsified his age by making himself three years younger. However, the matter was eventually dropped. He, along with Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Kodai Naraoka, and Li Shifeng, is considered one of the “Four Dragons” of the 2000s generation. Despite this, since 2023, Lakshya has faced 11 first-round exits, including at the Malaysia Open last week and the India Open this week.
Currently, among Indian men’s singles players, the highest Olympic ranking points belong to veteran HS Prannoy (ranked 9th), with Lakshya ranked 19th and Kidambi Srikanth close behind at 22nd. To qualify for the Olympics, Lakshya must break into the top 16 by the end of April when the Olympic qualification period ends.
Under pressure, Lakshya has decided to try something new by replacing his coach Anup Sridhar with Vimal Kumar, who is a former Indian national team coach and has also coached women’s singles star Saina Nehwal.
