Vimal Kumar on Lakshya Sen’s All England Open performance: ‘Resilience the biggest positive in his game this week’ | Badminton News – The Times of India

Pullela Gopichand had once famously said, “If your legs don’t allow you to play, you should play with your heart.”Lakshya Sen took it to heart during the semi-final victory over Victor Lai. And despite his defeat to Lin Chun-Yi in the All England final on Sunday, Lakshya’s performances over the past week will create a special chapter in Indian badminton.

Lakshya’s mentor Vimal Kumar was impressed by his intentions. “Lakshya could not inject his usual pace at the start and looked a bit slow in his movements,” Vimal told TOI. “But what impressed me most was his intent: he kept putting in effort and fighting for every point. That resilience has been the biggest positive in his game all week,” Vimal said, adding that muscle fatigue slowed him down in the final.“It’s a tough loss, but a very brave effort. Lakshya had a real chance to take the second game. However, the muscle fatigue he brought with him meant he couldn’t finish the rallies with his smashes, the punch just wasn’t there at the time. Despite this, he defended excellently against one of the most attacking players in world badminton,” Vimal said.All this after the low point at the Paris Olympics, where Lakshya missed out on a medal from a winning position. His father and his first coach DK Sen talked about that painful moment. “It was the most painful moment for us. But we believe in God and he decides when to give and what to give, we are still waiting for that moment,” Sen told TOI.Vimal ensured Lakshya had a strong team and it showed in the results when Lakshya won the Australian Open last year and came close to the title on Sunday. “The Korean coach with his demanding methods, along with a good physio, trainer and strength and conditioning coach, and of course the consistent guidance from his father coach, all played an important role in helping him out of that phase,” Vimal said.