Lakshya Sen, the promising Indian badminton player, has expressed his dream of winning the All England Open Badminton Championships. This aspiration comes amid his race against time to secure enough points for Olympic qualification.
Sen, who had reached the final of the All England Open in 2022, is determined to go one step further in the ongoing championships. Lakshya had reached the final of the All England Open in 2022 before losing to reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the final that year.
In the current edition of the tournament, Sen stormed into the men’s singles quarter-final after defeating 6th seed Anderson Antonsen in a thrilling three-game battle. He is set to face the 2021 champion, Lee Zii Jia, in the quarter-final. Sen is the only Indian left in the fray in this prestigious tournament.
💪 "I want to better my result from 2022!" 💪
🥈 Former YONEX All England finalist Lakshya Sen wants to go one better and turn silver into gold this week in Birmingham!
🇮🇳 He faces Lee Zii Jia in the quarter finals! 🇲🇾#YAE24 #allofbadminton pic.twitter.com/IvS4COYlom
— 🏆 Yonex All England Badminton Championships 🏆 (@YonexAllEngland) March 14, 2024
How Lakshya Sen approaching the All England Open?
“For me, the All England is my dream and I have been in the final once. As of now, I want to take one match at a time and my only goal is to better my result from 2022,” Lakshya said.
Lakshya Sen’s journey in the tournament so far has been commendable, especially considering his early exits in the India Open and Malaysia Open and his second-round exit in the Indonesia Masters. However, he bounced back to reach the semi-final of the French Open before making a deep run in the All England Open.
The Commonwealth Games Gold medalist acknowledged that the Olympic qualification is an added pressure for him before the deadline in the final week of April. After reaching the semi-final at the Super 750 tournament in Paris last week, Sen moved two spots to No. 15 in the BWF Race to Paris charts, the official rankings for Olympic qualification.
“I think to keep the Olympic qualification in mind, it is a bit more, extra added pressure in this tournament,” Lakshya Sen said.
If Lakshya goes all the way in All England, it will be a huge boost to his chances of making the Olympics debut in Paris later this year.
