If you thought becoming Junior World No. 1 would be the high point of 15-year-old Lakshya Sen’s week, then think again.
The teenager, playing in his first Senior National Badminton Championship, stunned the top seed and World No. 23 H. S. Prannoy 15-21, 21-18, 21-19 in Patna on Sunday, to enter the quarterfinals.
Prannoy, who has been in good form himself, winning all of his seven singles matches in the recently concluded Premier Badminton League, was outlasted by the youngster who is causing ripples in the Indian badminton circuit.
The Young shuttler from Uttarakhand last week achieved the World No. 1 ranking in the latest BWF junior rankings.
The 15-year-old prodigy, who won the bronze medal at the Junior Asian Championships and clinched the All India Senior Ranking Tournament at Arunachal Pradesh last year, jumped one place to reach the numero uno status.
Sen, who hails from Almora district in Uttarakhand, has been training under the watchful eyes of 1980 All England champion Prakash Padukone at his Badminton Academy in Bangalore since he was 10.