‘Lakshya Sen has to find consistency…’: Badminton coach Vimal Kumar miffed with India shuttlers failing at major events

Former national coach and Dhronacharya awardee U. Vimal Kumar has expressed concerns over the recent underperformance of Indian shuttlers on the big stages. Indian badminton stars had a forgettable run in the Paris Olympics as they returned to the country medal-less. Lakshya Sen did give India some hope by reaching the semis in Paris, but he failed to get past Viktor Axlesen. In the recent All England Open quarterfinal, he suffered the same fate and lost to Chinese sixth seed Li Shifeng in 45 minutes in Birmingham. The Indian challenge ended in All England as the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also lost their quarters to Chinese second seeds Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 14-21 10-21 in a match lasting 46 minutes.

U. Vimal Kumar is not impressed with the growth of the Indian badminton stars, as he didn’t shy away from naming the ones who have shown promise but lack consistency.

“Arun George and Satish Karunakaran showed immense potential but they have not made the big leap into the top 30s so that they can play in the Super Series events regularly. They come out with good wins but the consistency is missing. They have to make it big in the next year, otherwise it will be difficult for them as a lot of promising players are coming up from other countries. At their age, they should be winning tournaments by now. Ayush Shetty has come up with some good wins and has entered the top 40 which is a healthy sign. He can be a big star considering he is only 19. Tharun Mannepalli is another player who holds promise,’‘ Vimal Kumar told Sportstar.

‘Lakshya Sen is going to be our mainstay’

He was also a bit critical of Lakshya failing to get over the line in the Super 1000 and Super 750 events, but he is confident that the young shuttler will be India’s mainstay in the sport.

“Lakshya Sen is still among the top 20. But he has to find consistency and win some big tournaments, the Super 1000 and Super 750 events. He is going to be our mainstay in the coming years,’‘ he added.

While praising the country’s women shuttlers, Vimal also advised them to work on their finishing stroke, which he feels has been letting them down when finishing rallies on big stages.

“As far as women are concerned we have a really good crop of young players coming up and somebody will make a breakthrough so I am not that worried. Malavika Bansod is a good player. But our women players are unable to find a finishing stroke. They need the sharpness to finish a rally and need to work on that aspect,’‘ he said.