Lakshya Sen will be scrutinised now, need to work on his variations: Vimal Kumar

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.

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Viren Rasquinha, through his association with OGQ; Lakshya's coaches Vimal Kumar and Yoo Yong Sung at PPBA; Prakash Padukone himself; Lakshya's family, of course; his physio Abdul; Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala and others -- they know only too well about Lakshya's ride so far through the valleys and peaks of

"I am happy with his tactical acumen, there is considerable improvement. He is calm and dealing with tough situations better. I also see a remarkable improvement in his defence, especially after how he has tackled the attack of Viktor (Axelsen) and Anders (Antonsen)," Vimal told PTI. "He will now be scrutinised and studied and he will have to cope with all that. Overall, he is going in the right direction but he can attack more from the back of the court and bring in more variations." The 20-year-old from Almora had raised hopes of an Indian winning the All England Championship when he stormed into the finals but his dream run at Birmingham ended after he went down in straight games to world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen on Sunday.

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