BENGALURU: Newly crowned Commonwealth Games badminton champion Lakshya Sen, who will celebrate his 21st birthday next Tuesday, is not only scaling new heights, but also setting new trends, partly funding his own training.
The youngster, who is accompanied by noted physio Heath Mathews in Birmingham, was more than happy to chip in with his own money to get the best of training.
"Lakshya is getting funding from the central government's TOP scheme and that's a big help. But he has set a new trend by spending from his own pocket to add to the government's allowance which helped him get the services of the best in the business," sources told TOI.
"When we see many topclass sportspersons asking the government for total support, even one ice-pack, they will expect the government to provide. But Lakshya has shown the way as a true professional by pooling in his own earnings from the circuit to fund the foreign expert," they added.
'Gold will add to Sen's growing confidence'
Former national champion U Vimal Kumar, one of Sen's mentors at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, was happy that his ward had matched the performance of Padukone who was the first to win a CWG gold at the 1978 Games in Edmonton.
"It was a tough match as Yong came into the final after beating World Champion Loh Kean Yew and K Srikanth twice. They two had a long match at the India Open in Delhi in January too where Lakshya beat Yong in the semifinals (67 minutes), again after losing the first game. He then went on to win the title defeating Yew in the final," Vimal said here.
After watching the action live at the PPBA, where the trainees and coaches got a half day off to catch the stars in action, Vimal, who lost to silver winner Steve Baddeley of England in the pre-quarterfinals at the 1990 Auckland Games, said Lakshya should have won the first game. "Lakshya should have taken the first game, but towards the end he came up with a flick serve. Then he tried a cross-play and that helped the Malaysian to take the lead."
"In the second, Lakshya increased the pace. He started attacking more and pushed the pace of the rallies. Midway into the game when Lakshya scored a few quick points, Yong gave up and was conserving his energy for the decider. But at the start of the third, Lakshya contained the Malaysian and was always 2-3 points ahead. Overall, it was a pressure match and Lakshya came out on top. His tenacity and temperament helped him and this gold will give him confidence going into the World Championships.
