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Lakshya, Chirag return to training at Padukone Academy in Bengaluru
Lakshya, who was in quarantine for 14 days after coming from the All England Championships, said the only time he felt demotivated was when there was no surety of things opening sooner.
Lakshya Sen’s drawing room was his playground for the last two months. Not to be dissuaded by lockdown restrictions, his father and badminton coach, DK Sen trained his two sons Chirag and Lakshya - world no 27 - wherever he could find space - be it the drawing room, garage or the passage outside their apartment in Bengaluru. A portable badminton net, racquets, shuttles and tennis balls were all he required as equipment.
Space was a constraint even at their native home in Uttarakhand’s Almora, where Sen had to improvise to fit in as many children as possible in the backyard when he was a Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach. It was there that Sen’s trainees first caught the attention of Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar who were scouting for their academy in Bengaluru.
Inducted first was Chirag, 21, who rose to become junior world No. 2 in 2016. Lakshya, three years younger, followed his brother into the academy in 2012 and went a step ahead to become the junior world No. 1 in 2017. With both his sons starting to make a mark at the international level, Sen realised they need him round the clock. He quit his SAI job.
He is now a coach at the Padukone-Dravid Centre of Excellence and stays in an apartment with his sons who train at a sprawling campus with 16 courts and modern facilities, learning from badminton greats Padukone and Morten Frost.
Sen never had to get back to his old training methods since then but the lockdown brought out the badminton coach in him. “You don’t need a full badminton court to practice net dribbling, service, tap, net chord etc. All these things can be done if you know how to use space and if you have a net,” said Sen from Bengaluru. “Back in Almora we didn’t have the luxury of one big ground with multiple courts. And there were many kids who used to come, so I had to find a way to involve as many as possible. I designed small nets with iron bars attached to it and the entire set could be easily moved. I used the nets in small spaces, marked the service line, and some kids would practice service, some drops, some tosses,” said Sen.
Now, portable nets are available in the market and Singh uses one in his drawing room - the 20ft passage connected to it provided him the desired length to play with. Sometimes the space in the society’s garage was also used. “We made the best of the period in terms of fitness and skill sessions,” said Sen. “In fact, we were so much into training that we hardly had time. I made them do exercise using their own body weights and using one another’s weight,” said Sen who claims he himself had lost 8kgs during the lockdown.
Used to their father’s ways, Lakshya and Chirag were in sync with him in no time. Lakshya, who was in quarantine for 14 days after coming from the All England Championships, said the only time he felt demotivated was when there was no surety of things opening sooner. Once the Badminton World Federation came out with a schedule for the year, he was raring to return.
“There was no news about competition and I was thinking whether we would have to wait for a year or so to start. That time there was a feeling of dullness and no motivation. Then things started moving when we came to know that we can train and the tournament schedule was out. I felt better, at least there is something to look forward to,” said Lakshya, who won five tournaments last year and pitched himself as the next big star in Indian badminton.
Lakshya didn’t have to wait long. His coach Vimal Kumar was waiting for the government to give a go-ahead. A week ago the Padukone-Dravid academy, also a national training centre for badminton players, opened for 20 of its top trainees. The brothers and doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa are part of the elite athletes training there. Vimal was happy to find the Sen brothers and others in shape despite the time away from courts.
“I could make out that some of them were really working hard in the lockdown period - Lakshya, Maisnam Meiraba. I found them to be in decent shape. Most of them have maintained themselves well. They have not lost much. Of course, they look thin because they were not able to do any strength programme - muscle mass and other things have to come now. That will happen,” said the former international. “We are following all the SOPs and have put them into two groups. The sessions are devoted to skills on court and physical training. Slowly we will increase the sessions,” said Vimal.
