Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen working on net game

Mumbai, July 19

Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen today said he has worked on his net game and the recent trait of conceding points late in a contest as he prepares in Marseille, France, for the Paris Olympics starting next week. The world No. 19 has been drawn in Group L along with Indonesian rival Jonatan Christie (world No. 3), Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon (No. 41) and Belgium’s Julien Carragi (No. 52).

“We have focused a lot on overall improving the game and we had a good time for the last 6-7 weeks where I could really work on all the areas of the game,” Sen said.

“From defence to attack and overall, we have tried to get better at everything, and at the same time, worked a lot on the areas (in) which I was not really good at (and) maybe give extra time on the net game, the defence and also closing stages.”

“It is important to be sharp and be aggressive. (In the) last few days, we are still trying to get good match practice here, play short games and also have a good match practice session so that I am sharp towards the end of the game,” Sen said.

The 22-year-old said adjusting to shuttle movement in a place near to the sea is different and he expects similar conditions in Paris, where he will travel to on July 22.

“I’ll be training here (for) next two-three days and then (on July) 22nd afternoon, I move into the village. It’s a three-hour journey to Paris,” he said. “We have a good team of 10 members here and we decided this (place) because this is closer to Paris and we have a setup here with Popov brothers (Christo and Boris) who are good sparring (partners) as well.