Meet the pillars of strength in India's new badminton star Lakshya Sen's life

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.

(Viktor Axelsen with the trophy and Lakshya Sen on the All England 2022 podium - AP photo)"The scoreline is not an indication of the intensity of the match," said Vimal Kumar, Lakshya's coach at the PPBA, while talking to TimesofIndia.com. "Nothing to feel bad about the defeat yesterday." Vimal has his reasons for that opinion. And so do others who have been a part of Lakshya's journey so far. Rasquinha, through his association with OGQ; Lakshya's coaches Vimal 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 professional badminton in a journey that began when he was just 10. They also know what Lakshya is capable of. When Lee Zii Jia's 397-km winner whizzed past Lakshya in the semifinal, he was down 12-16 in the