If Ayush Shetty had sent the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium into delirium on Monday, Lakshya Sen had the Delhi crowd singing his name again on Tuesday. The 24-year-old has long been a darling of the capital’s badminton crowd, and the chants that greeted him on Tuesday were familiar ones.
“Lakshya bhai superstar”, “Let’s go Lakshya, let’s go”, “Do rupaiya ka Pepsi, Lakshya bhai sexy” rang out from the stands as the men’s singles first-round match got underway. The same chants had echoed around the stadium when Lakshya played at the India Open in January. There is something about the Almora shuttler and this crowd, they have made him one of their own.
With the Olympic semi-finalist drawing World No. 128 Collins Valentine Filimon in the opening round, there was an expectation that Lakshya would give his home crowd a show. Instead, Delhi got a scare before it got its celebration.
The first World Championships hosted by India in 17 years has already produced its share of shocks in the men’s singles draw. Top seed Shi Yuqi was stunned by Ayush on Monday, while fifth seed Christo Popov was also sent packing early. Lakshya, too, found himself staring at an uncomfortable first-round battle before eventually finding a way through.
Playing from the tougher end in the opening game, where he needed to hit against the wind, Lakshya struggled to find the lines. The drift was in his head as much as it was on the court, making him reluctant to play with his usual freedom.
Filimon sensed it.
The Austrian was not only up against one of India’s leading shuttlers, but also a vocal group of fans who have consistently turned up for Lakshya in the national capital. Yet he refused to be overawed. His tall frame helped him dominate rallies, and he was fearless at the net, throwing himself into points and killing them whenever an opening appeared.
Lakshya kept pace with him early on, despite not looking entirely comfortable. But at 13-12, Filimon found another gear. Six points came without reply, taking him to 19-12 before he closed out the opening game 21-16.
For a moment, the “Lakshya bhai superstar” chants went quiet.
The post-game conversation looked serious as Lakshya’s coaching staff, including his father DK Sen, rushed onto court. There was work to do, and Lakshya knew exactly what had gone wrong.
“There was a little bit of drift from where I started; it was windy. Every time I played a shot, I was scared it would go out if I gave it too much power. That is why I wasn’t playing as freely in the first set. But in the second set, when I came to the other end, I could easily get him into rallies and get my lifts right,” Lakshya said after the match.
The switch changed everything.
Filimon did well not to let Lakshya run away at the start of the second game, going neck-and-neck with him in the early exchanges. Then came the point that changed the mood inside the stadium.
At 6-7, Lakshya produced a diving save that seemed to have no business coming back. He stretched, defended, somehow kept the rally alive and won the point. It was the sort of point that gets a crowd off its feet, and it did.
The noise returned. So did Lakshya.
He went into the interval 11-8 ahead and from there, the second game belonged to him. He moved better, found his range and began controlling the rallies. Filimon had no answers as Lakshya stormed through 21-8.
The 2021 World Championships bronze medallist was now playing with the freedom that had deserted him in the opening game. He lifted long, pushed Filimon away from the front court and denied the Austrian the length he needed to make his height count.
The decider was less a contest and more a statement.
Lakshya raced to a 14-1 lead, and the Delhi crowd knew the danger had passed. Lakshya left no room for Filimon to even sniff a comeback and closed out the game 21-4 to complete the win in 45 minutes.
PROBLEM SOLVED ON THE GO
“In the second and third sets, as I said, my lifts were going short in the first game, so the tall player was taking advantage of it. I just tried to get control of my lifts and not get into flat drives, because for him, it was easy to hit to the sides. Those two things I changed — getting him into rallies and controlling my lifts. In the third set, I was much more in control. Once I knew I had a bit of a lead, I was playing well,” he said.
It is precisely why Lakshya chose to train at Guwahati’s National Centre of Excellence weeks before the BWF World Championships instead of his home base in Bengaluru. The height at the NCE in Guwahati and the air-conditioning were similar to the conditions at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Lakshya had played in Delhi earlier this year, reaching the quarter-finals of the India Open. But for his maiden World Championships appearance at home, the Almora shuttler did not want to leave anything to chance.
“There is a good centre over there and a big stadium in Guwahati. The main goal was going there to get used to the conditions because we had a bit of time after our last tournament to prepare. It was just a training camp,” he said.
The first-round scare will only add to the noise around Lakshya’s campaign. Next up is USA’s World No. 92 Garret Tan, with a potential third-round meeting against second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn looming beyond that.
For now, though, Delhi has got what it came for.
“Lakshya bhai superstar” is singing again.
– Ends
