Sometimes, gruelling soul-searching is needed for redemption. In his tedious journey, Lakshya Sen has unfolded as an inevitability at the Paris Olympics 2024, regaining his old touch with an expanded weaponry.
The night before his straight-game win was dramatically ‘deleted’ by the Badminton World Federation due to a reason beyond his control. His opponent in the Paris Olympics opener, Kevin Cordon, pulled out of the Games due to an injury.
The BWF adhered to rules that have been in place for years, but there was a lot of chatter about the ‘injustice’ meted out to the youngster. Lakshya, however, barely paid heed to the development.
Even though he had to start his Olympic campaign from scratch, Lakshya was not bogged down by the outcome. It was evident in the way he thumped Julien Carraggi today.
A win declared null and void tends to take a toll on a player’s mind in an event like the Olympics, where the pressure is completely different from a BWF World Tour event.
Lakshya showed no sign of nerves though. He played like a livewire and sent Carraggi packing.
Unlike his Group L rival Jonatan Christie, whom Lakshya will meet on July 31, he got the job done in 40 minutes. The third seed Christie, in contrast, needed three games to get off to a winning start at Paris 2024.
Before the Paris Olympics began, Lakshya had recurring problems — an inability to handle pressure and committing unforced errors — that troubled him in every event.
Earlier this season, he found himself on the wrong side of the tracks, resulting in his ouster in the semifinals twice.
However, meticulous preparations in Marseille before the Olympics have seemingly transformed him, both as a player and a human being.
Flaunting his newly minted game
But against Carraggi, a talented player with the calibre to hold his opponents breathless with swift court movement and powerful smashes, Lakshya emphasized his newly gained confidence and self-belief with an intense and impeccable game.
In his previous outing, Carraggi, the World No. 52, tested Christie by winning the opening game. However, experience is an asset, and Carraggi lacks that; as a result, Christie bounced back and won the three-gamer.
With Carraggi seemingly moving ahead in the opening game against Lakshya, the ace Indian player, after trailing for most of the first game, put up a remarkable fightback to stun the Belgian.
The 22-year-old lithe-figured shuttler was trailing 12-15 with Carraggi, high on confidence, hitting precise smashes and giving Lakshya no chance for retrievals. When Carraggi went diagonal, Lakshya could not reach the shuttle.
Had it been the Lakshya of the past, he might have given up, fearing no chance of recovery. But at the Paris Olympics, Lakshya emerged as a transformed player under the strict watch of coach Vimal Kumar. He pulled off a massive turnaround by engaging Carraggi in rallies.
Earlier this month, coach Vimal gave a glimpse of what Lakshya’s game would look like at the Olympics, and in the thick of Olympic action, the new elements of Lakshya’s game were broadly evident.
Lakshya’s ability to dazzle in marquee events is well known. Be it the Thomas Cup or the Asian Games, he has demonstrated his uncanny ability to deliver when the stakes are high. But before the Olympics, he needed to assess his game, uplift it and refuel himself.
Peaking the pace late
Lakshya wisely embedded more variations into his game while adding more layers to his armoury and honing his placement skills.
Smashing is not the only way to win points; Lakshya knew that. To cope with the challenge of the ever-evolving nature of the game, coach Vimal brought more pace into Lakshya’s game, enabling him to go hard on his opponents in the closing stages.
“The idea is basically to bring in some sort of intensity in the routines. Certain sets of routines that we follow are mostly singles-oriented. He (Sen) worked on those flat exchanges, retrieving, and things like approaching the net and being a little more alert at the net,” Vimal had said.
The result of that well-designed programme is that Lakshya has become a mental giant in his gameplay.
When he was at the closing stage of the game on Monday, Lakshya ramped up the pace of the rallies and played more diagonal shots, giving Carraggi no angle to clear the net. Soon, Lakshya closed the gap at 14-15 with his resounding retrievals of Carraggi’s relentless smashes.
Though Carraggi managed to extend his lead with another smash, Lakshya stayed firm in his game, drew the Belgian shuttler closer, and forced him to commit one error after another, fetching crucial points.
To break the monotony, Lakshya launched a cross-court smash from the backcourt to draw level at 18-18.
Though Carraggi was still in the game at 19-19, Lakshya maintained his cool and claimed the crucial lead with a smash that saw him fall by the wayside.
For the game point, Lakshya’s employment of a net flick saw Carraggi going wide.
Keeping the shuttle flat
The second game saw a more articulate play from Lakshya as he broke into an 11-4 lead at the interval, displaying his solid defensive game. On several occasions, he converted those defensive strokes into points, finishing the rallies with precision strokes.
Lakshya’s ability to control possession left Carraggi wondering, as the World No. 18 Indian claimed a seven-point advantage at the mid-game break with a brilliant backhand flick.
The shuttler’s ability to move swiftly around the court and retrieve everything Carraggi hurled at him demonstrated that Lakshya had reached the peak of his fitness and form just when he needed it most.
Lakshya gradually soared in the game; he kept his strokes flat and claimed points with his wristy flicks, reflex returns, and deft placement.
After a four-point spree, Lakshya soon accumulated eight match-point chances at 20-12.
Carraggi saved two of those, but Lakshya still had a cushion of six points and finished it off in style, drawing an unforced error from Carraggi.
Carraggi troubled Lakshya sporadically by charging at him with body smashes.
Lakshya did not mind the challenge, as it gave him a chance to take a lesson and fortify his game before Wednesday’s do-or-die clash against Christie. In that match, he not only has a score to settle for his All England Open semifinal defeat but also needs to secure a place in the Paris 2024 pre-quarterfinals.