Commonwealth Games 2022 | Lakshya Sen focused on winning medal for India: Looking forward to giving my best

Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen has said that he is looking forward to bringing home a medal for India at the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2022.

Sen has enjoyed success in Birmingham, the place where CWG 2022 is set to be held, as he reached the finals of the All England Championship, eventually missing out on the gold medal.

The 20-year-old told PTI that he enjoys playing in the hall and is looking forward to giving his best and winning a medal for India.

“I like playing in that hall, the conditions suit me. I have good memories there and I am very confident that I will do well this time too. This is also a big tournament, so I am looking forward to giving my best and winning a medal,” said Sen.

The Indian shuttler also went on to say that top three or four players have the chance of winning the gold but he isn’t thinking about the colour of the medal and wants to focus on one match at a time.

“All the top 3-4 players have a good chance of winning the gold and I am not thinking about the colour of the medal, I just want to go there and focus on one match at a time,” said Sen.

Four years ago, the Indian shuttler was closely following the Indian contingent as they secured the country’s first mixed team badminton gold. Sen admitted that he wanted to be there in that team and is aiming to repeat India’s achievement from Gold Coast.

“Last time I watched it on TV when India won the gold. Before that, I also watched (Parupalli) Kashyap bhaiya win the gold (in 2014). But 2018 was a nice moment. I wanted to be there in that team.

“Commonwealth Games is a prestigious event for India. I think it will be up there along with world championships in terms of priority. Everyone aspires to play the Olympics but before that, you try to get used to such multiple events and do well in them. So I have been thinking a lot about how as a team we can repeat the achievement we got last time. It will be a tough to win but I am looking forward to it,” said Sen.

England has been the most successful team with eight titles to their name and Malaysia are closely behind them with five. However, the latter will be without their top singles player Lee Zia Jia. Despite this, Sen is wary of the Malaysian team and said that winning against them will not be easy.

“Malaysia is a good team, they have 5-6 decent singles players. So one pulling out, maybe, it affects them but we are just hoping that we play well and beat Malaysia and win the gold,” said Sen.

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