The rise and rise of Lakshya Sen

Lakshya Sen in less than six months. The loss in the first round of the selection trials last August rankled the new poster boy of Indian badminton, but he was clearly below-par then as he was down with a stomach infection.

Read AlsoLakshya Sen loses All England final to World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen

After igniting the hopes of millions of Indians, Lakshya Sen lost 21-10, 21-15 to World No.1 and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men's singles final of the All England Badminton Championship. He fell just short of emulating the feat of his mentor Prakash Padukone and Pullela

Hurt and very frustrated, the 20-year-old from Almora was at a loss when he got an invite from Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen to train with him in Dubai. Axelsen had shifted his training base from Denmark to Dubai after winning the Olympic gold in Tokyo. He invited five shuttlers - reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew Singapore, Brian Yang of Canada, Toby Penty of Denmark, Felix Burestedt of Sweden and Lakshya - to train with him at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex. "Lakshya was upset at that moment. I told him that these things happen to fringe players. You should be like Srikanth, Sindhu and Saina. Then this sort of selection issues would not matter," coach Vimal Kumar recalled telling his ward.

"We told him to go to Dubai and Lakshya benefited from training there. He was inspired by how Axelsen organised everything on his own. Lakshya was on his own in European tournament, where he learnt how to react to particular different situations. That is actually helping him to react and change strategy immediately on the court," Vimal told TOI on Sunday. Lakshya and Loh benefited the most from that camp. While Loh went on to become the world