All England Open 2022: Lakshya Sen faces primary hurdle in weight of expectations after fine run of form

PV Sindhu – Hopefully Kidambi Srikanth – May be Satwik/Chirag – Could be Lakshya Sen – Likely Indian badminton fans are probably used to making such a list in their mind before every major tournament wondering who has the best chance of standing atop the podium. And with yet another edition of the prestigious All England Open set to kick off at Arena Birmingham on Wednesday, the 20-year-old Lakshya Sen suddenly finds himself at the top of the list based on his performance in the last few months. Sen, who was handpicked by Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar at the age of 11 as a potential star of Indian badminton, has been on a roll in the last couple of months winning a bronze medal in his very first appearance at the BWF World Championships in December, reaching the semi-finals of the BWF World Tour Final 2021 and then clinching the India Open Super 500 crown by upsetting reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games. There is no doubt that the 2018 Asian Junior Champion has worked quite hard on the transition from the junior to senior circuit in the last couple of years , working especially on his physical strength, defensive skills and maturity. However, despite the promising run at the end of 2021 and the start of 2022 there was a big but over his abilities to challenge for bigger titles. Many felt he was lucky to get a favourable draw at the World Championships as many top stars were missing due to Covid. Even the draw at the India Open 2022 lacked the depth of earlier years and hence the What If question did trouble the fans. Sen answered all those detractors emphatically at the German Open, beating the likes of Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand, fourth seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia and his experienced compatriot HS Prannoy in straight games. Despite being a Super 300 event, the tournament had attracted almost all the top players as they were treating it as a warm up for the All England. But the one match that well and truly established him as the potential star for the future was the one against Tokyo Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. Sen blew hot and cold in the first two games against the Dane, with whom he had also trained for a while last year. Axelsen had won all their four earlier encounters in straight games and it looked like he was racing towards another victory when he raced to a 16-9 lead in the decider. But instead of giving up, Sen dug his heels and made his opponent earn every point from there on. He dived around to retrieve the Dane’s booming smashes and was smart enough to counter punch whenever he got the opportunity. And despite the vast experience of playing big matches, Axelsen wilted under pressure and Sen’s stock rose exponentially and suddenly made him fans’ favourite to end India’s title drought at the All England. Despite Sindhu being crowned the World Champion in 2019 and the likes of Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth winning a couple of Super 1000 tournaments, which are at the same level in BWF’s tournament structure, the All England remains the Holy Grail for Indian badminton ever since the legendary Prakash Padukone clinched the crown in 1980. Indian badminton had to wait for just over two decades before Pullela Gopichand joined him in the illustrious list of champions exactly 21 years ago in 2001. During this period, Saina was the only player to come within touching distance of the trophy when she reached the final in 2015. Since then all eyes used to be on Sindhu, who has managed to reach the semi-finals twice in last four years. Despite Sindhu’s success in major events like the World Championships, Asian Games and Olympics, the 26-year-old has never really been a consistent performance on the BWF Tour and the way she lost to her first-round opponent in Birmingham, China’s Yi Man Zhang, in the German Open and potential second round challenger, Thailand’s Supanida Kathethong, in the India Open earlier this year does not augur well for her. But unpredictability is Sindhu’s strength at times and if she can come up with a special performance when it matters, then her legend will only grow. Among the men’s singles players, 2021 World Championships silver medallist Srikanth hasn’t found the magic potion of consistency that saw him win four Superseries titles back in 2017 and hence all eyes are probably on Sen, who opens his campaign against compatriot Sourabh Verma. Sen’s road to even the finals isn’t easy with the likes of Loh, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia and former world champion Kento Momota in his half of the draw. Sen knows that at this level there are going to be no easy matches. But in Vimal Kumar and Korean coach Yoo Yong-Sung, who is travelling with him, he has two quality coaches to prepare him well for every challenge and he now definitely has the confidence to execute those game plans. The only uncharted territory the last edition’s quarter-finalist would have to conquer to make a mark this week is to handle the weight of expectations and not get carried away with the hype around him. Sen has suffered just two loses in 2022 in 13 matches and both those reversals came when he was considered favourite to win. At the Badminton Asia Championships group stage, he was ambushed by young South Korean Hyeok Jin Jeon and he failed to show enough patience in the German Open final against arch-rival from junior days, Kunlavat Vitidsarn of Thailand. The 20-year-old is a fast learner and the coaches would have also spoken to him about these pitfalls when you are climbing the ladder. But only the player has to deal with them on the court and how he managed that will decide how his campaign ends in Arena Birmingham this week. A lot is expected from India Open men’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who decided to skip the German Open to put in another week of training before the All England. The pairing has gained enough experience in the last couple of years and the way they defeated the tactically astute Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ehsan for their second Super 500 title has definitely boosted their confidence. The fifth seeds would, however, have to overcome top seeds Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon. The Indians have lost all their last 11 clashes against the Indonesians and their possible quarter-final encounter could be a test of their skills and mental resolve as well. The same is true about Prannoy, who has been playing quite well this year but hasn’t been consistent enough to challenge for the title. He would be hoping that he catches a lucky break and turn the tide of disappointments at the biggest stage. There will be many more Indians in the fray this year in men’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories and all that will be expected from them is that they punch above their weight and registered a few good wins.