Indian shuttler and junior world No 1 Lakshya Sen has entered the final of a senior international badminton tournament for the second time in his career, at the Eurasia Bulgarian Open on Wednesday. Sen, who turned 16 on Wednesday, beat Sri Lanka’s Dinuka Karunaratna, 29, in straight games 21-19, 21-14 in the semi-finals, in a match that lasted 35 minutes.
Sen beat top seed Sam Parsons of England, compatriot Kiran George and Poland’s Michal Rogalski en route to the semi-finals. In the final, Sen will take on second seed Zvonimir Durkinjak of Croatia, who is also 29 years old. Sen, the current world No 167 in men’s singles, has never faced Durkinjak, ranked 102, before.
The Uttarakhand boy reached the final of the senior national championships earlier this year, where he lost to Sourabh Verma. Sen, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Academy under former India coach Vimal Kumar, was recently sent to France to work with former All England champion Peter Gade.