Badminton prodigy adds another feather to his cap

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 27

A badminton prodigy, 9-year-old Lakshay Sharma has won Swiss Youth Open (Under-11) held in Biel, Switzerland, on May 23 and 24. He has won in both singles and doubles categories. Arnam Jain, another talented player from the city, was his partner in the doubles.

Lakshay says he wants to fulfil his father’s dream and has the gold medals for him. “I want to make the country proud and to become the best badminton player in the world,” the young boy says, oozing oodles of confidence.

He has won three gold medals at state-level meets, on gold in the North Zone Inter-state Tournament and singles gold and doubles silver at the U-9 Oliver Junior Cup-Germany. His father and coach Mangat Roy Sharma said Lakshay had been training under his guidance since the age of four.

A student of Class V at Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, he trains in the morning, after school and again late in the evening.

His father and coach, Sharma said Lakshay had a flair for the game. “I did not have to teach him how to hold the racquet. He used to hold everything as if he was holding a racquet. We knew he had the talent to become a good player and we had to just channelise his energy,” he said. 

He has the speed, agility, willpower and the fighting spirit, which are important to win matches. “He has the skill of deceiving his opponents. He can drop the shuttle away from the aim while hitting a shot,” says his father. He doesn’t shirk from training. He became a state-champion at the age of 6, he said. Lakshay’s partner in doubles, Arnam is also trained by Sharma at Nirvana Club. Arnam, 10, is a student of Sat Paul Mittal School. There were 23 competitors in their group at the Swiss meet.