Olympics 2024: Badminton Ace Lakshya Activates ‘Sen Mode’ for Operation Paris

Paris Olympics 2024: With eyes on the prize, India's badminton star Lakshya has activated 'Sen Mode.' What is it?

Paris Olympics 2024: Story for Badminton prodigy Lakshya Sen.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

Übermensch. A being who has transcended human limitations. The Friedrich Neitzsche version of Superman. Essentially, someone who could do nothing wrong.

Many elite athletes have experienced fleeting Übermensch phases – where they could do nothing wrong. For Lakshya Sen, the Indian badminton prodigy from Almora, Uttarakhand, it was the phase from 2022 to 2023.

• May 2022 – India clinched a historic maiden Thomas Cup. Lakshya triumphed over Olympic medallist Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the final.

• August 2022 – An individual gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

• July 2023 – Improbable Canada Open triumph, beating Kenta Nishimoto in the semi-final and Li Shi Feng in the final.

• October 2023 – A team silver medal at the Asian Games. India did lose the final to China, but Lakshya won his match against Shi Yu Qi.

To Fall Is Ordinary. To Get Back Up Again, Extraordinary.

For two years, it seemed that Lakshya Sen was invincible. Infallible.

And then, everything went wrong. Murphy’s law.

A first round exit at the Denmark Open.

Then, at the French Open.

Then, at the Japan Masters.

Then, the China Masters.

Then, the Malaysia Open.

And, the India Open, too.

‘How difficult were those months?’ The Quint asks Lakshya.

The 22-year-old says, albeit after a pause to recollect memories he perhaps would much rather never revisit:

Getting so many first-round exits was mentally very hard to deal with, to be honest with you. I am a person who takes such things to heart. But then, I started working with mental trainers, and they were of great help. Eventually, I started doing the right things and got my form back in February.

Lakshya Sen

The Redemption Arc

March 2024 – French Open. First competition since his mental metamorphosis.

Lakshya beats Kanta Tsuneyama, Li Shi Feng and Loh Kean Yew to finish third. More than the final position, the victories were of importance, as he feels:

Winning a few matches against good players boosted my confidence. I started performing well after that.

Lakshya Sen

It was followed by third place at the All England Badminton Championships, where he defeated Anders Antonsen and Lee Zii Jia.

The redemption arc was complete. Lakshya is quick to highlight it would not have been possible without the support he had received from all quarters.

During that difficult period, my whole team really motivated me. From my dad and my family members, to Vimal (Kumar) sir and Prakash (Padukone) sir. They were very supportive and always hopeful that I could still qualify for the Olympics.

Lakshya Sen

Anatomy of the Fall

Indeed, the chapter has been buried, but what caused the sudden nosedive?

Lakshya attributes it to the superabundance of competitions and injuries.

Since the start of the Olympics qualification period, a lot of tournaments were added to the competition and I was not finding a training window. I had to travel from one country to another, and some slight niggles also kept me away from badminton for a few weeks. It was a very low period for me. I was not playing well, things were not working out. But when I started training more, I figured out which are the areas that let me down. I think my preparation for tournaments was not very good during those times. So I took some time off towards the end of November and used that training block to build myself physically, and also work on a lot of key areas on the court. Eventually, I started performing well. Yes, it was a tough phase, but I am very happy that I got back to winning ways.

Lakshya Sen

The Coach Behind the Prodigy

In 2010, when badminton coach DK Sen took his elder son Chirag to the All-India Sub-Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament, his younger son Lakshya insisted on tagging along.

Chirag was impressive enough to be taken under the wing of celebrated coach Vimal Kumar. Lakshya, all but nine years of age, wanted to follow suit.

A trial was organised, just to not let the kid down, albeit Lakshya’s performance exceeded Kumar’s expectations. The pair has been associated for the past 14 years, and after not being with him courtside for the majority of 2023, Vimal Kumar will once again be seeing accompanying Lakshya.

Vimal sir has always been a part of my team. He did not travel as much with me last year, but he always knew what was going on and kept on contributing during my training. He has been working with me since childhood. Whatever I am today is because of him. Even when I was not performing well, he was always very positive about my comeback. Although I was losing matches, he kept on telling me the positives that I could take from those matches.

Lakshya Sen

Six years later, at 15, Lakshya became the world number 1 junior shuttler.

Self-Assessment of the Indonesia Open Performance

Lakshya is coming to the Paris Olympics on the back of a decent Indonesia Open campaign, where he reached the quarter-finals with triumphs over the Japanese pair of Kanta Tsuneyama and Kenta Nishimoto, before losing out to Denmark’s Anders Antonsen.

He assesses his performance:

I think it was a very good tournament. I had some good wins, and the quarter-final against Anders Antonsen was also decent. If I look back, I would say that I was in really good shape in that tournament. I was moving well, playing well. I had great rhythm during that tournament, and I was confident about making it to the end. The quarter-final was a really close game and eventually, I lost out. But there are plenty of positives to take from that tournament. There are also some key areas where I can improve, so it was a good learning experience too.

Lakshya Sen

Plan for Olympics – One Match at a Time

Lakshya and HS Prannoy’s participation marks the first time since 2004 that two Indian shuttlers have qualified for men’s singles.

That chapter of history has been rewritten, but he will have the opportunity of scripting a new one, should he win a medal. No Indian male shuttler has won an Olympic medal.

Lakshya, however, wants to take one game at a time.

My focus right now is to train well every single day, and give my best during this big event. My mindset during the Olympics will be to take one match at a time, not think too far ahead, and worry about the what-ifs. I am hoping to do well and go the distance.

Lakshya Sen

That, however, does not equate to a dearth of confidence, for he adds:

Of course, everyone knows that if I play to my potential I can win a medal, but it’s just that we don’t discuss about medals within my team. No expectations have been levied on me. The complete focus now is on training well and being really sharp during the Olympics.

Lakshya Sen

Decoding Lakshya’s ‘Sen Mode’

For the next few weeks, Lakshya will be in a specific zone.

A zone, which often gets mentioned on his social media posts, albeit as an auxiliary hashtag.

A zone created by Lakshya, called ‘Sen Mode.’

Of course, a wordplay on ‘zen mode’, but can this zone be defined?

For a few seconds, only silence. Followed by the articulation of thoughts.

Whenever I step out on the court, I stop thinking of everything else and focus only on winning the match. I go into a ‘zen zone’ – it is a zone where nothing else matters to me except playing well. It is a zone where I am fully focused on winning, and where I am playing my heart out. So, I thought of naming that zone ‘Sen Mode.’

Lakshya Sen

'Sen Mode' has now been activated. Mission Olympics is in sight. The countdown has started.