Badminton 2019: How Lakshya Sen became the most improved Indian shuttler of the year

For somebody who was playing in the junior circuit even last year, Lakshya Sen's first full senior season has been absolutely extraordinary. There was never any doubt about his immense talent and he displayed it in ample amounts when he was crowned the Asian junior champion last year and won a silver medal at the Youth Olympics as well as a bronze from the World Junior Championships.

Side by side, he was occasionally participating in a few senior events as well to get a taste of the high level of competition and to push his ranking up. In 2017, he triumphed at the Bulgarian Open and the India International Series and followed those wins up with a title at the Tata Open the very next year.

To transition from the junior to the senior circuit so effortlessly is no mean feat. And Lakshya started doing it while he was still only 16 years of age.

And this is the reason why, all badminton fans knew success was imminent for the youngster when he would start playing exclusively at the senior level. But what nobody expected was how he would repeatedly shine at multiple events, without showing any tiredness or any intention of slowing down.

The 18-year-old, who hails from Uttarakhand, had been honing his skills at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy for quite some time. But a training stint with former World No. 1 Morten Frost in Denmark was what injected him with the courage and confidence needed to consistently produce results at the higher level of the sport.

Before his Denmark training, Sen had already begun to impress. He made it to the China Masters semi-finals and the final of the Polish Open in March. However, a title continued to elude him.

The wait ended after he sharpened his skills under Frost's tutelage. Sen went on a tear, showing his newly-gained confidence against opponents who had once troubled him to win five titles. From the International Challenge to Super 100, Sen weaved his magic at every level and went on a winning spree.

It was at the Belgian International in September where he got his first title of the year. It was a smooth run for the teenager at this International Challenge event. Without dropping any game, Sen cruised through the four matches that he played to take the title.

The level of competition next increased at the Dutch Open, a Super 100 tournament. But Sen remained unfazed. The youngster had to play six matches, two of which went the distance. Yet that did not bother him one bit.

Against Japan's Yusuke Onodera in the final, Sen could not make a good start. Struggling for pace and rhythm, Sen fell behind pretty quickly and by the time he managed to settle down, the first game was already over. Yet that could not throw him off.

Showing his resilience and fighting spirit, the former junior World No. 1 made a stunning comeback to win 15-21, 21-14, 21-15 and taste glory at the Super 100 level for the first time in his career. But he did not stop there.

The path became steeper in his next tournament - the SaarLorLux Open, another Super 100 event. Finland's Eetu Heino was a tough customer and nearly dashed Sen's hopes early in the tournament.

But the steely Sen held his nerves and edged the Finn 21-18, 18-21, 22-20 to make it to the pre-quarter-finals. Two more three-game matches followed but Sen was ready for the challenge each time. Neither could his opponents topple him, nor could tiredness. Sen went on to win his 14th match in a row to take his third consecutive title.

The Almora-born boy carried his momentum into the Scottish Open as well to win his second International Challenge event of the year and his fourth title of 2019. The semi-finals and the final proved to be quite a hurdle and Lakshya needed to dig deep each time to secure the win. A 9-21, 21-8, 22-20 win against Christo Popov and an 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 win against Ygor Coelho showed how hungry and motivated Lakshya was to climb the higher echelons of his sport.

Sen finished the best season of his fledgling career with yet another title at the Bangladesh International. As the top seed, he lived up to the expectations to breeze through each of his matches in straight games on his way to the top podium.

Sen's determination and exploits made him the youngest Indian men's singles player to break into the top 40 and pushed him to a career-high 32 in the world rankings. Considering the speed at which he is improving, it is just a matter of time before Sen finds himself in the top 15 and becomes a serious contender for the elite titles in his sport.