I’m fitter now, waiting to go all out at Denmark Open to test my game: Lakshya

The lack of momentum because of the COVID-19 disruption has been irritating, concedes fast-rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen, who can not wait to go full throttle when worldwide badminton resumes with the Denmark Open from October 13.

The 19-year-old claimed 5 titles within the senior circuit final 12 months, together with two BWF World Tour Super 100 prime honours — SaarLorLux Open and Dutch Open — to zoom to 32nd within the worldwide standings by the tip of it. But that was earlier than the lethal pandemic introduced the whole lot to a halt in March this 12 months.

“It was frustrating as there was no tournament because of the virus. But then it is same for everyone. I just hope we get to play, now that Denmark Open is happening,” Lakshya, who’s at the moment ranked World No 27, informed PTI.

The shuttler from Almora additionally claimed an enormous win over Asian Games gold-medallist Jonathan Christie on the Badminton Asia Team Championships earlier this 12 months after which put up a stable battle towards former world champion Viktor Axelsen on the All England Championships.

The Birmingham occasion was the final event to be held this 12 months with the Badminton World Federation suspending the remainder of the calender because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It can be after seven months that Lakshya will get to play worldwide badminton on the Denmark Open.

“It took two weeks to get back to normal and now I am ready to give my best and see whatever happens. It is the first event for everyone so I can’t expect anything, will just go all out from the start,” he stated.

Talking about his health, he stated: “I have improved a lot and I am in a better shape than last year. I participated in many tournaments in 2019 so it was more about maintenance and playing.

“But I will only know about my game when tournaments start. I will get a feedback and compare my level with last year. So I am just waiting for Denmark Open to start to test my game.

“I got a lot of confidence after training for the last few months but unless I play matches, put myself in a pressure situation, I won’t be able to assess myself,” he defined.

Lakshya will begin towards France’s Christo Popov, who received the primary medal for his nation on the World Junior Championships final 12 months.

A win will pit him towards both Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama or Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.

“It is a good draw but a lot of top players are not playing. I have played Popov before. I have a 2-1 record against him and I might play Vittinghus in second round, so I will take one match at a time,” he stated.

He may also take part on the SaarLorLux Open which is scheduled to be held from October 27 to November 1 at Saarbrucken, Germany.

“I will be defending a Super 100 title for the first time at SaarLorLux. So I am very excited. There are other Indian players who are also participating. So looking forward to the tournament.

“I will be training at the Peter Gade Academy after the Denmark Open and from Germany I will return to Denmark and practice there before returning to India in November end. I had planned it that way as the Asia leg was earlier scheduled in November.”

Lakshya stated he “could try new things during the last few months, which otherwise are not possible in a packed schedule.” “I worked on strength and my cardio, so there were long running sessions and also we played a lot of other sports like football and basketball which helped to improve our fitness,” he stated.

Asked whether it is tough to deal with the game on this time, he stated: “…it is but sports is a different field and even if something is happening in your personal life or somewhere else, you can’t allow it to affect you. When you are on the court, you have to focus.

“…when lockdown happened, I used to be worried as there was a lot of uncertainty but now a lot of time has passed and we have a new normal.

“Things will be different and we have to take care of hygiene and safety. Apart from that, we can’t do anything, at the end of the day we are sportspersons and we have to play,” he signed off.