Dinshaw Pardiwala: Last News

Top Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen on Monday said he is "living a dream" by bringing laurels for the country at the world stage and he "gave it all" during his maiden final against Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen at the All England Championship. The 20-year-old from Uttarakhand has been simply sensational en route to his final appearance at Birmingham but he couldn't go the distance, going down in straight games to world no 1 Axelsen.

Lakshya Sen will be scrutinised and studied more after his sensational run at the All England Open Championship and the young shuttler would need variations in his game from the back of the court to stay ahead, reckons his mentor and former India coach Vimal Kumar. A product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru, Sen has been in incredible form in the last six months. He claimed a maiden bronze at the World Championships, secured the India Open title in January before finishing second best at both the German Open and All England Open Championships.

Lakshya Sen & shifted him to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bangalore, Prakash sir told me that one day this boy will conquer the world. I laughed. But he obviously wasn’t joking." Sport can surprise you, to the extent that you may actually celebrate being proven wrong. In former India hockey captain and Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) Director and CEO Viren Rasquinha's words above, there's a prism of similar emotion that reflects pride, joy and a sense of fulfillment. In the last six months, Lakshya continued to slay giants on the court and his great run saw him move into the final at All England Championships. He met Viktor Axelsen, the Dane legend he had upset only last week in Germany. But Axelsen's homework left nothing to chance. The result was a second All England title for him, in straight games -- 21-10, 21-15 -- on Sunday.