World Championships: Lakshya counting on recent form to win medal

GUWAHATI: A maiden medal at the Asian Games and breaking into the world’s top 5 remain on his radar but Lakshya Sen’s first priority is to extend his rich vein of form at the World Championships.

The India hockey team fought back from two goals down to eke out a 4-3 win over Malaysia in the final to claim its fourth ACT title here on Saturday.

And, he is counting on his recent showing to deliver the goods. After enduring a rough patch, Sen turned around his fortune with a title-winning run in Canada in July and followed it up with two semifinal finishes at the US Open and Japan Open. The 21-year-old from Almora, who claimed a maiden bronze at the World Championships in 2021, will hope to secure another medal when he begins his campaign in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 21.

“World Championships being just a week ahead, I feel the past tournaments which I played, will really help me go into the tournament,” Sen told on the sidelines of the inauguration of Badminton Association of India’s National Centre of Excellence.

“The preparation has been good. The past few tournaments, the form has been going well, but there are still a few more things to learn and improve. “With time, it will get better and match preparation for this tournament is really good as I have played a lot of good matches in the recent past, and that will give me a lot of confidence.

“Another week or 10 days, I’m looking forward to really good training and then doing well at the World Championships.” Asian Games, the continental multi-sport event, scheduled to be held from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China is another big-ticket event which is on his radar.

“It is a really big event and it comes once in four years, so it is a special one. I have played such big events twice in my career. I played in the Youth Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, so meeting all the players and watching different sports is a big learning experience for me,” he said.