"Admire Lakshya Sen A Lot": Indian Shuttler Anupama Upadhyaya Ahead Of Asian Games

Indian badminton player Anupama Upadhyaya who is part of the Badminton team contingent for the Hangzhou Asian Games, said on Saturday that she admires India's star player Lakshya Sen as he encouraged her to play international level. Speaking exclusively to ANI, Anupama mentioned Lakshya as someone she looked up to during her training days under his father DK Sen's guidance. Lakshya also inspired her to play internationally. “At the age of 11, I started training under sir DK Sen; he is Lakshya Sen's father. I used to look up to Lakshya, and how he is playing at the national, and international level, winning trophies. I used to look at him and I also wanted to win titles. At the age of 11, I decided to play internationally and win lots of medals for the country," she said.

“I admire my senior Lakshya a lot but my ideal is Tai Tzu-ying from China, I admire her a lot,” Anupama said.

Asian Games 2023 will be held in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8 where two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will spearhead India's challenge in women's singles and team events.

India's star shuttlers like HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth in men's singles and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in men's doubles are participating in the event to win medal for the country.

Anupama participating in women's singles in the Asian Games said, "I am feeling very overwhelmed and excited for the upcoming Asian games, this would be the first time that I would be representing India at such a higher level. Definitely, Training with seniors Sindhu, Prannoy, Lakshya is a great opportunity for me. They have really good experience and I am also getting that experience of how they prepare themselves for court, training. So I am very lucky