NEW DELHI : Lakshya Sen has a bundle of talent. And yet he hasn’t been able to do justice to it so far in his career. Sporadic wins here and there and glimpses of brilliance off and on, the consistency that you expect in a top performer continues to be missing. At the China Masters it was the very same story. Sen was squaring up with the hugely talented Viktor Lai of Canada, who was subsequently defeated by Kidambi Srikkanth, and was looking excellent at the start of the match. Some of his shots, as always, were breathtaking and then, all of a sudden, he just let things drift. 8-11 at half way stage, he lost the game 14-21 and then in the second game was never in the contest.
Vimal Kumar, who has worked closely with Sen for years now, has time and again spoken about his mental fragility. Sen was close to winning a medal in Paris and must say was playing some excellent badminton. He beat Jonathan Christie and Chou Tien Chen on the way and when it seemed that a medal was almost a done deal, he faltered. May be the aura of the Olympic stage got to him. Or the pressure. Whatever be the case, Sen has not reached similar heights since.
With Prannoy no longer the same force and with Ayush coming up the ladder and Srikkanth not as consistent, Sen has to spearhead India’s challenge at the Asian Games. The team had played brilliantly in the last Asian Games and was even up 2-0 against China. For them to do something similar we need Lakshya Sen at his best. From what we have seen yesterday he is far from being there.
For an athlete who is struggling with self belief, it is essential that his support team takes things into their own hands and takes control. He needs mental conditioning help and somehow needs to get back his self belief. While it is easier said than done, the truth is we don’t really have any other option. Lakshya is physically right up there and is India’s best bet. There is no question of giving up on him. And yet it is equally true that in the current state, he isn’t really capable of winning things at the Asian Games. The self belief is lacking and so is his resilience. He seems lost on court and has kind of given up to an extent. Vimal has time and again alluded to it and it is time he sits down with Lakshya and addresses these concerns with immediate effect.
May I say we need to be sensitive with Lakshya. He must be feeling negative more than anyone and these are times when he needs maximum support. We need to be accepting of his issues and not brush them under the carpet. Mental Health is one of the most challenging issues of our times and Sen is a very real example. I can only hope that people close to him put correctives in place with urgency and ensure that things don’t go off the rockers any further. We need Sen back and as early as possible.
