A new generation of men's singles players is gradually emerging in the world of badminton, the most well-known of which is Indian youngster Lakshya.
The global spread of COVID-19 has deprived young players of the transition from youth to adulthood, such as Quinavut, Yang Can, Lakshya, Li Shifeng and Bobov Jr. Surprisingly, the boys quickly adapted to the adult arena and have even reached the semi-finals and finals of important competitions.
For India, Lakshya is the hope for the future of men's singles. Although they also have excellent men's singles players such as Srikante, Planoy and Planis, only Lakshya can represent the future.
Born in the town of Almora in the foothills of the Himalayas, Lakshya attracted attention as a teenager. At the age of ten, he moved to the southern city of Bangalore to train at Prakash Padukone Academy, where coaches predicted a bright future for the young genius. He achieved good results in his junior years, winning bronze at the 2018 World Junior Championships and runners-up at the Youth Olympics. Despite not having spectacular results in the high-level events, he has won a series of victories in the lower-level events, winning five of the seven events in 2019, including the Belgian Challenge, the Dutch Open and the Sassuolo Open.
While there were hardly any events in 2020, Lakshya made good use of the time. His body has become stronger and he can start to compete with the top players. He began to show his strengths in the final quarter of 2021, with the French Open quarterfinals, the Semifinals of the Hailu Open, and Laksyasen also participating in the 2021 Huelva World Championships in good shape.
With fast and steady footwork and highly offensive technique, he defeated Boxer Nishimoto, Corden and Zhao Junpeng to reach the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, he and Srikante were in a showdown between the old and the new, and he had a head start in the game, but the experienced veteran Srikante eventually reversed the victory.
If the semi-finals of the World Championships are his perfect finishing point for 2021, then the Indian Open is the perfect starting point for his 2022. Back-to-back victories over Planoy and Huang Zhiyong brought him to the final, the most important match of his career against St. Co., Ltd. world champion Luo Jianyou. Lakshya rightly seized the opportunity to successfully defeat the in-form Luo Jianyou to win the first super 500 event of his career at home.
"It's a good 2021 and I'm also starting the new 2022 with a win and I'm happy to win the Super 500 at home. I had high expectations of myself and I didn't have much time to train after the World Championships. I practiced for a week before I came here and I felt good from the start, playing well in both the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, especially in the third inning of the semi-finals. These wins also allowed me to play bolder and more confident in the final. ”
"I want to be better because I did well at the World Championships. The last three or four months of 2021 helped me build confidence and I started to get into the rhythm of the race. ”
The mild-mannered twenty-year-old will lead the Indian men's team to next week's Asian Team Championship, and as other important events follow in 2022, people will also keep an eye on his performance.
Selected from previous periods, click on the title below to read
2021 Review: Those Things in Tokyo
2021 Badminton World Championships: Dai Ziying Yamaguchi Akane meets in the final, and The Chinese men's and women's doubles compete for the championship
2021 Badminton World Championships: Luo Jianyou makes Singapore's history, and the Chinese women's singles plays a triumphant song
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