“I want to win the gold” - Lakshya Sen confident of podium finish in Paris Olympics 2024
Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen is confident of doing well in the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024, and will aim for the gold medal in the men’s singles category. Notably, HS Prannoy and Sen have mathematically clinched the Olympics spot.
Sen has been in excellent form, with two consecutive semi-final finishes in the recent French Open and All England Open in March 2024. However, everything was not smooth sailing for the shuttler.
Before his impressive gameplay in the French and All-England Open, Sen had suffered a lot of first-round exits. He had been involved in multiple back-to-back tournaments without taking enough breaks and he was on the receiving end.
“As I remember, I think I was under a lot of pressure before the India Open and all those tournaments where I wasn't playing very freely on court,” Lakshya Sen told Rev Sportz.
However, former world champion badminton player and mentor Prakash Padukone’s message came in as a savior for the young shuttler. Since then, Sen changed his perception before taking on any opponent, getting his confidence back in major tournaments.
“And then I had a discussion with Prakash Sir that what is your ultimate goal for this year? Is it just you want to participate in the Olympics or you want to go ahead and win the gold? And then I said, I want to win the gold there, and it's not about qualification,” he added
“Don’t look at improving your ranking” - Prakash Padukone’s message to Lakshya Sen
Furthermore, Prakash’s golden message helped Lakshya to focus on a tournament-by-tournament basis, which helped him gain his form back and perform well in the recently concluded tournaments.
“So he told me you have to start winning tournaments. Don't look for a quarterfinal or a semifinal so that it will get better in the ranking, your ranking will improve. Don't look at that. Look at winning the big tournament like All England or the India Open or the French Open. Then only you might have a chance to go and win a medal in Paris,” he went on to add.
It’s important to note that only two shuttlers from a country can make it to the Paris Olympics 2024 in the men’s singles category from the top 16 rankings. As per the Olympic rankings, HS Prannoy (9) and Lakshya Sen (12) are ruling the charts.
With only the continental championships remaining before the qualification cycle ends, the duo of Prannoy and Sen has all but qualified for the quadrennial event.