City teen wins silver at senior badminton nationals
Lakshay Sharma, a 19-year-old resident of Ludhiana, has brought laurels to the city by securing a silver medal in the Men’s Singles Open Category at the recently concluded All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament held in Hyderabad.
Currently pursuing his second year of BA at Chandigarh University, Lakshay has become the first boy from Ludhiana district and only the second from Punjab to win a silver medal in this category at a national-level senior ranking event. He has been trained by his father, Mangat Rai Sharma, a National Institute of Sports (NIS)-qualified national coach.
According to his father, Lakshay was among 768 participants in the Men’s Singles category from across the country. In the first round, he defeated Akhil Rao of Telangana in straight games, 21-15 and 21-19. He then overcame Aditya Joshi of Uttarakhand in a three-game battle, followed by wins against Varun Kapoor of Maharashtra and Sanskar Saraswat of Rajasthan.
In the semi-final, Lakshay defeated Saneet DS of Karnataka before falling to Ginpal of Delhi in the final, thus securing the silver medal.
Ritin Khanna, general secretary of the Punjab Badminton Association, Dr Sulbha Jindal, sports secretary of Sutlej Club and Anand Tiwari, coach at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati, extended their congratulations to Lakshay for this significant achievement.
“I have been giving private coaching to my son at Nirvana and Sutlej Club badminton courts. After international badminton player Sachin Ratti, my son has become the youngest player from Ludhiana and the second from Punjab to win a silver medal in any open national championship,” said Mangat Rai Sharma, a proud father.
“Lakshay has worked hard. One day, I am confident he will be part of the Indian badminton team,” he added
