Lakshya Sen came agonizingly close to winning a historic Olympic medal for an illustrious addition to his promising career but fell short, losing the bronze-medal match to Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia at the Paris Games earlier this month. However, it has infused more belief into the 23-year-old shuttler, who wants to be the Virat Kohli of Indian badminton.
Sen defeated one of the medal favourites Jonatan Christie of Indonesia on his way to the semifinals, where he lost to the defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Sen then lost the bronze-medal match 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 against the world No. 7 Malaysian.
But his run up to the semis remains historic, as no other Indian man went that far in the singles draw at the Olympics before Sen.
One of his shots that made waves on social media was the no-look back-hand retrieve against Christie, and while appearing on the Ranveer Allahabadia Show recently, Sen was told that it drew him comparisons to Kohli by fans on social media.
Sen's back-hand was compared by fans to the extraordinary six that Kohli hit against Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf.
Reacting to that, Sen said: "Why not! I mean, at the same time he (Kohli) has done a lot for Indian cricket and yes, I want to be the Virat Kohli of Indian badminton in the coming years."
Lakshya is currently in Austria for physical assessment at the Salzburg's Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre.
According to his coach Vimal Kumar, Lakshya needs to continuously work on his fitness considering the style of his game.
After returning from Austria, he will start competing in the BWF circuit.
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