File photo of Lakshya Sen© AFP
Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen impressed everyone with his performance at the Paris Olympics 2024 but he failed to secure the bronze medal by the smallest of margins. Lakshya became the first Indian male player to reach the badminton semi-finals at the Olympics but his dream of reaching the gold medal match was ended after a loss against top seed Viktor Axelsen. Lakshya faced Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match but he once again was defeated. Although he did not manage to add an Olympic medal to his name, his performance earned him a lot of praise and during a recent interaction, the youngster revealed his dream of becoming the “Virat Kohli of Indian badminton in coming years”.
“Why not I mean, but again he’s done a lot for Indian cricket. Yes I want to be the Virat Kohli of Indian badminton in coming years,” he said on the The Ranveer Show podcast.
Lakshya also opened up about his camaraderie with Tokyo and Paris gold medallist Viktor Axelsen. He said that he was inspired by Axelsen and they also trained together in Dubai.
“He has inspired me a lot, the way he conducts himself on and off the court. I had a two-week training period with him where I got to play with him and practice. Again, this Olympics semi final match against him. Yeah, again it has been quite inspiring for me that I played and I know in the match I had him. I had also beaten him in the past. These kind of things motivate me that yes I’m on the right track but again lot of work is there,” he added.
Earlier, Axelsen also was all praise for Lakshya and he even made a massive prediction.
“Lakshya is an amazing player. He has shown in this Olympics that he is a very, very strong competitor and I am sure in four years from now, he will be one of the favourites to win the gold. (He is) an amazing talent and a great guy and I wish him all the best,” Axelsen said.
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