Lakshya Sen’s work ethic not a problem; he needs to be ready for early, tough matches against unknown players: Coach Vimal Kumar

“Missing a medal does hurt you for a long time but you have to find ways,” Vimal tells the Indian Express. “It is not like he has been sidelined, he has been provided opportunities in tournaments. It is all in his head, he has to sort it out and only he can do that. No coach, no system, nobody can help him on that front,” the coach adds.

Vimal has seen Lakshya rise through the ranks and feels that the 23-year-old’s ability to find joy in the grind seems to be missing for now. He recalls seeing Lakshya put older players through the wringer while in his under-15 days and coming out on top.

“At the time he was playing without fear,” says Vimal, who along with the legendary Prakash Padukone could be seen willing Lakshya from the courtside during the Olympics last year. “But now you are slightly known, he got noticed by everybody at the Olympics. Even though he didn’t win a medal he became a big star of Indian badminton, you became one of the top players of the country. That is all part of it. You can’t blame anybody, he needs to deal with it,” Vimal adds of the attendant pressure of stardom and heightened expectations.

“He is a little injury prone, that lets him down. But no amount of sob story would help, he has to find a way to address it, be focussed, and enjoy the process. Find ways to deal with the expectations, to enjoy matches,” the coach adds.

Vimal said that he has pointed to another key pattern that seems to have emerged recently for Lakshya. “The mindset I have noticed is that he is ready to play known names. The players he is losing to are not known players, they are youngsters. Lakshya needs to be confident and play,” says Kumar. “I keep telling him, every round is tough, there are no easy matches. Look forward to playing these long tough matches. It is in his hands, he has a good team working for him, a lot of people helping him.”

Vimal says that he has no complaints with Lakshya’s work ethic in training. To a certain extent, the 62-year-old feels that Lakshya’s current predicament is something common to most Indian sportspersons. “He is training well. Sometimes he gets tired but that is because of the anxiety which comes from the expectations. That is something typical I see with Indian players. Indian sports in general is evolving.

“When there is no focus on you, you perform and deliver. But when you are expected to deliver, you falter. And that is all because we are evolving. I say it again and again, we are not a big sporting nation yet and the athletes are getting there. That way I am hopeful,” he explains.

Lakshya’s post-Olympic slump seems to certainly be typical to all Indian badminton players at least since Paris. The likes of PV Sindhu, ace men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and HS Prannoy have all struggled to get their performances up to the levels expected of them. Amid all of this, though, came the rather unexpected sight of a beaming Kidambi Srikanth on the podium at the Malaysia Masters. Vimal hopes that Srikanth’s surprise runner-up finish can lead to some positive ripples on the rest of India’s badminton protagonists.

“It was required. A player like Srikanth, he was one of the best players in the world 5-6 years back. When these sorts of players do well, the youngsters get inspired. He beat quite a few young players (on the way to the final) which is quite encouraging. Last few tournaments, quite a few of our singles players have not done too well at all, and nobody has been playing consistent badminton,” Vimal lamented.