Lakshya Sen needs to hit the right lengths against Shi Yuqi in blockbuster opener

And all things considered Round 1 might be the best time to go up against the toughest opponent in the draw. Shi Yuqi is not ideal to face in the first round, but when dreaming of a World Championship medal, isn’t having to beat big names inevitable? It’s how India won its last medal — Prannoy playing a masterfully strategic game, plotted by Pullela Gopichand and Gurusaidutt, to down Viktor ‘The Axelsen’ at home in Copenhagen in 2023.

Ask Sindhu, Saina, Sai Praneeth, Srikanth or Satwik-Chirag, and they will reel off all the ‘big names’ they roiled against, to earn their medals. For Sen — there’s Shi Yuqi, and hopefully Christo Popov, Alex Lanier and Li Shifeng up ahead, though plenty hinges on how his back, shoulder hold up and what Sen’s stamina reserves are at.

Go back a year, and there was similar mourning and muttering over Lakshya Sen’s Olympic draw. He was placed in a group where he had to play an extra match, and which had Indonesian Jonatan Christie, at that point, looking good for a podium, if not gold. Jojo had beaten Sen the last couple of times, and would start as favourite. But it was some steely nerves and a pinpoint tactical game that helped the Indian get past the Indonesian, top the pool and advance from the group.
But even before the draw, Anders Antonsen had made a pertinent point: he said Sen was a dangerous floater that everyone wanted to avoid early. Christie, Indonesia’s top medal contender, felt the KO punches, as did Chou Tien Chen later.

Sen’s meltdowns against Viktor Axelsen and Lee Zii Jia which denied him a medal, deserve a separate piece. Not so much the tactics (though those can be thread-bared in hindsight too), but his inability to summon a certain kind of heavyweight game, when smashing or killing at the net, at the business end in Paris, and letting himself down psychologically, cost Sen those matches. But early in a tournament, when he was not tired in the mind, and fresh and motivated, Sen could snatch momentum away from Christie, a clear favourite.

It’s why playing Shi Yuqi — if he must, and he needs to — is a better proposition in Round 1 than in quarters, with a medal on the line. Let’s call it the best of the worst-case scenarios.

Sen is prone to over-training, putting inordinate pressure on his back and shoulder in needlessly rough training sessions, and exerting in the gym more than some think he ought to. He does this to be best prepared. But the back can backfire. He goes into the Paris Worlds with a massive hit on his confidence after the Olympics and first round exits on Tour, but as any coach would tell him, there’s literally nothing to do about past disappointments.

Yuqi is no slam-bang, impetuous hitter — but neither was Jojo. But the Chinese’ vulnerability — the tiniest one — might be his eagerness to win a World title, which he hasn’t all these years, but can this time. With Viktor Axelsen having pulled out, everyone will have breathed a sigh of relief, but Yuqi will be under some pressure to make that count, so having the devilishly disruptive Sen across the net, might be equally unpleasant for him, as his visage and elegant game will be for Sen.

One reason why Sen’s results have dried up is, opponents, all top players, are alert to how he can completely scramble their game on flat exchanges, so they treat him with respect. But top coaches in India, and abroad, will certify that the Indian has an elite explosive stride and reliable endurance early in tournaments, and a superb understanding of the game. He reads it better than most on the circuit, and it’s innate intelligence.

All of Kodai Naraoka, Loh Kean Yew, Li Shifeng and Alex Lanier are bunched in Sen’s half, so it’s going to be one painful ride even if he gets past Yuqi to run into aggressive playing styles that he struggles against. But a badminton World Championship medal never came easy to anyone. The bitter-better, clutching-at-straws way of looking at things might be to glance at the draw, and thank the heavens for Kunlavut Vitidsarn being in the other half.

Sen has some scores to settle at Paris, where ironically his best effort internationally, ended with a wretched 4th place at the Olympics. He hasn’t spoken about how crushed he felt, but he lost close to 4 kg in the aftermath, and there’s always the danger of over-training to compensate — a particularly brittle situation for him, given the sort of game he plays, and the defensive labour involved.

If the conditions at the Adidas Arena are fast, then Sen could secretly be gleeful even for that suits him just fine. But given it’s the Olympic venue, a massive arena, it will be good conditions and not overtly windy. At any rate, Sen would have a handle on them, though slow courts could see Shi Yuqi saunter.
Sen’s strategy needs some heavy fixing, if he goes deep into the Paris week, and the third sets don’t allow him to power through. But it’s why Round 1 is the best time to run into Shi Yuqi – fresh and fierce.

Form book says India could end up with a second straight wretched August at Paris, and no World’s medal for first time since 2010. But there’s scores to settle with Paris, redemption arcs to traverse, and miles to go before Indian fans turn crabby and the sentiment dunks on Indian shuttlers, with their treacherous draws.

The rotation smash, instead of windmill one

Look at the taping on his shoulder, and you would know Lakshya Sen is carefully managing some pretty troubling ligaments there and his back, without letting them hinder his snappy smashing game. He’s never had a full-blooded crosscourt expansive smash, but the round-the-heads used to be nifty and ping into gaps. With the synovial socket shoulder joint and the back needing preserving, Sen who always had a good quiver of drops and half smashes, has found a backup. It’s the ‘rotation smash’ – the one that comes with a catapult snap of the elbow, without committing the back and shoulder to it. It’s a worthy weapon, though he struggles in smacking at very tall lifts, and he has to jump high. Also, in the end stages of a match, Sen has come to believe that attack is his only option – but he doesn’t have the strength to power through. His technique needs to switch to counter-attacking on the endgame, and his strategy will need massive changes if he’s running out of energy in the third. The rotation smash just isn’t enough then.