From the hilly terrains of Almora to the bylanes of Bangalore and now together in the national team, it has been quite a journey for Sen brothers — Lakshya and Chirag.
While Lakshya was the first to make a mark on the international circuit, newly-crowned Senior National champion Chirag on Tuesday joined him in the Indian team for the Badminton Asia Team Championships
Badminton runs in the Sen family with DK Sen picking up the sport from his father, who won several medals competing in All India Civil services tournaments. He, in fact, played a crucial role in the setting up of the SAI centre in Almora, which has produced some quality players like 2023 national champion Anupama Upadhyaya.
Between the two brothers, it was Chirag who showed early interest in badminton.
Chirag wanted to be a badminton player, while Lakshya didn’t show any interest initially, but he used to come for training and slowly started picking up the sport.
Chirag, 25, has been a regular in the domestic circuit for the last few years. He won the 2020 Kenya International challenge but never could get a breakthrough in the senior circuit.
Lakshya, on the other hand, proved his worth early on the junior circuit and had a smooth transition into the seniors, having won two Super 500 titles — India Open and Canada Open –, a 2021 world championships bronze and silver at All England Championships.
For Chirag, the big moment came in Guwahati last month when he went on to win the Senior National champions, a feat which Lakshya couldn’t achieve, having reached the final twice in 2017 and 2019.
In Guwahati, Lakshya made an exit at the quarterfinals but with Chirag reaching the semifinals, he cancelled his flights and stayed back to support his elder brother.
Right from childhood, they have been very close. Their birthdays may be on different dates but the cake always had both their names and they would cut it together, DK Sen said.
“There has never been any rivalry between them. They have always shared a strong bonding. I hope they can now make the country proud,” he signed off.