Nimrod Mon Brokman doesn’t believe in easy. The Israeli sports psychologist, who works with athletes at his Behavioral Foresight facility, has been accompanying Lakshya Sen at the All England — and his methods are anything but conventional. The latest: cycling at a heart rate of 160-170 under hypoxic conditions, where arterial oxygen saturation drops below 90 percent.
“I use different, unconventional technologies and methods. This was about cognitive overload — forcing him to deal with two challenges at once,” says the Bangalore-based Mon. “Most athletes won’t like it. Lakshya says, ‘Bring it on.’ Even on match-days.”
That attitude, Mon says, is rare. Working with Sen since mid-2025, he sees in the Indian shuttler a quality he has otherwise encountered only in elite military units. “I see very little fear in him when it comes to hard stuff. He laughs in the face of these challenges — that kind of temperament, I’ve seen it only in Special Forces or 9 Para.” It’s why, Mon believes, Sen is in the All England semifinals.
The work between them began not with drills or techniques, but with dismantling a story. Mon felt Sen had absorbed a damaging misconception: that his fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics was a failure.
“It was actually an extraordinary result. He qualified with just two tournaments left, while managing injury, and still had a brilliant run at the highest level of competition — something India should have highly appreciated,” Mon says. “Our early work was about clearing his mind of that wrong perception, and reminding him of how good he really was.”
India’s Lakshya Sen celebrates after winning the men’s singles semifinal match against Canada’s Victor Lai at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Sen, by Mon’s account, wasn’t drowning in self-criticism — but the noise around him was. “His approach is to look forward and not be stuck in the past. Our strategy was to deal with nothing from the Olympics, because there was nothing to deal with.”
Returning to Paris for the 2025 World Championships brought its own complications.
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Mon travelled alongside. Sen drew Shi Yuqi in the first round — the same opponent he would later face at the All England — and lost. But Mon saw something else in the defeat. “You might not see it on the scoreboard, but that match was a turning point. It told me he had put everything behind him.”
Injuries are a recurring subplot in Sen’s career. His back has a wretched history, and his retrieving style of play — grinding, relentless, built for long rallies — means he strains it more often than most. Mon is measured about this. “All athletes get injured. After the first few times, the mature ones settle into it — they understand loading and de-loading, the importance of recovery. Lakshya is brilliant at that. Inspiring, even.”
What Mon seems to prize most in Sen, though, is the absence of noise. “He doesn’t compare himself with others. He knows what to set aside and clear his path.”
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The attitude-goal Mon and his team are sharpening in Sen is, he says, a blend of Muhammad Ali and Rafael Nadal — bravado fused with patience. “With Lakshya’s game-style, you need to be willing to get hit, to lose points, to have stretches where nothing is working, and still trust your game completely. Against Li Shifeng, he took blows — but he stayed patient and found his way.”
The flip Sen has made this week is in how he handles momentum. An old habit — building a chunky lead, unravelling it, then getting lost in the wreckage of how it happened — has been quietly replaced by something steadier. “We’re working on minimising the effect of lost leads instead of reacting in panic mode,” Mon explains. At the All England, it has shown.
Mon will admit, with some amusement, that the learning has gone both ways.
The first time he travelled with Sen, he arrived at his room primed for an intense session — only to find the TV on, an American stand-up comedian Max Amini playing in the background. “I wasn’t so sure about it,” Mon laughs. “But we went through that session with jokes and laughter, and I realised: you have to allow the brain to be open, even in heavy sessions. In the same conversation, we’d discuss the importance of a move in his game and something completely trivial.”
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Sen, it turns out, taught the mind coach something about the mind. How to switch off. How to come back lighter. That, as much as hypoxia drills and cognitive overload, might be the real secret.
Shivani Naik is a senior sports journalist and Assistant Editor at The Indian Express. She is widely considered one of the leading voices in Indian Olympic sports journalism, particularly known for her deep expertise in badminton, wrestling, and basketball.
Professional Profile
Role: Assistant Editor and Columnist at The Indian Express.
Specialization: While she covers a variety of sports, she is the primary authority on badminton for the publication. She also writes extensively about tennis, track and field, wrestling, and gymnastics.
Writing Style: Her work is characterized by "technical storytelling"—breaking down the biomechanics, tactics, and psychological grit of athletes. She often provides "long reads" that explore the personal journeys of athletes beyond the podium.
Key Topics & Recent Coverage (Late 2025)
Shivani Naik’s recent articles (as of December 2025) focus on the evolving landscape of Indian sports as athletes prepare for the 2026 Asian Games and beyond:
Indian Badminton's "Hulks": She has recently written about a new generation of Indian shuttlers characterized by power and physicality, such as Ayush Shetty and Sathish Karunakaran, marking a shift from the traditionally finesse-based Indian style.
PV Sindhu’s Resurgence: A significant portion of her late-2025 work tracks PV Sindhu’s tactical shifts under new coaching, focusing on her "sparkle" and technical tweaks to break out of career slumps.
The "Group of Death": In December 2025, she provided detailed tactical previews for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s campaign in the BWF World Tour Finals.
Tactical Deep Dives: She frequently explores technical trends, such as the rise of "backhand deception" in modern badminton and the importance of court drift management in international arenas.
Legacy and History: She often revisits the careers of legends like Saina Nehwal and Syed Modi, providing historical context to current Indian successes.
Notable Recent Articles
BWF World Tour Finals: Satwik-Chirag have it all to do to get through proverbial Group of Death. (Dec 2025)
The age of Hulks in Indian badminton is here. (Dec 2025)
Treadmill, Yoganidra and building endurance: The themes that defined the resurgence of Gayatri and Treesa. (Dec 2025)
Ayush Shetty beats Kodai Naraoka: Will 20-year-old be the headline act in 2026? (Nov 2025)
Modern Cinderella tale – featuring An Se-young and a shoe that fits snugly. (Nov 2025)
Other Sports Interests
Beyond the court, Shivani is a passionate follower of South African cricket, sometimes writing emotional columns about her irrational support for the Proteas, which started because of love for Graeme Smith's dour and doughty Test playing style despite being a left-hander, and sustained over curiosity over their heartbreaking habit of losing ICC knockouts.
You can follow her detailed analysis and columns on her official Indian Express profile page. ... Read More
India’s Lakshya Sen celebrates after winning the men’s singles semifinal match against Canada’s Victor Lai at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)