Lakshya Sen

[sameerph]

At 19, Laskshya is now at a career high ranking of 23. Fellow 19 year old Kunlavut is ranked 24. They are the only ones younger than 20 who are in top 25. Still feel Laskhya's progress is a bit stalled at the moment. He may need 3-4 years to reach top 10 level and hope at least attains that, if not top 5.

[sameerph]

He may need 3-4 years to reach top 10 level and hope at least attains that, if not top 5.

That is what I posted 10 months back but it looks like I will have to take my words back. With his surge in last 3-4 months, Lakshya is already ranked at a career high of #13 in the world. The way he is playing he may be already playing at a top 10 level. Lot of players in top 10 are holding on to points from 2019 due to Covid.

I think it is good that he skipped this week in Lucknow. His priority now should be improving his game by playing a lot of tough competition instead of playing in weak tournaments and ramp up the rankings. He anyway can get into all tournaments now with his ranking.

Hope he trains well and does well at All England and other European tournaments in March.

[arjun2761]

Fully agree with his decision. He is easily playing at a top 10 level now (and would be ranked there if they took out the 2019 points). He can certainly focus on the top tier tournaments from now on.

I watched his game against Loh and was impressed that he has no real weakness as he does everything well. He does everything well but does not appear to have a killer weapon which he may need to get into the top 3.

[sameerph]

Fully agree with his decision. He is easily playing at a top 10 level now (and would be ranked there if they took out the 2019 points). He can certainly focus on the top tier tournaments from now on.

Someone on twitter has posted what would be the rankings if badminton rankings get reverted immediately to old rankings system only 12 months. In that Laskhya would be ranked 7th. Sirikanth would be ranked 6th and Prannoy would be 15th. all 3 are doing much better than their ranking suggests.

[suresh]

However, in normal times, the Indian Open would have had more of the top players and Lakshya Sen may not have won it. So there is some justice in the current rankings.

[SaniaFan]

Some people did get benefitted. Saina is prime example. She actually no longer a top 30 player.

[prasen9]

Which is why we should just use elo-style rankings. No need to adjust really due to covid, etc.

[sameerph]

However, in normal times, the Indian Open would have had more of the top players and Lakshya Sen may not have won it. So there is some justice in the current rankings.

I agree. Even in world championships, Indonesians and top Chinese were not there and top ranked Momota retired in first round. So, Lakshya may not have reached SF as he did if eveyone was there. So, probably his current ranking of #13 is true reflection of his current level of play. We cannot be sure untill everyone starts competing regularly.

[arjun2761]

Well, he is likely at least #13. Probably higher as some of those with big points in 2019 but with fewer or no points now may not be as good as they were then (nearly 3 years is quite a long time).

[sameerph]

My earlier post on this was exactly 1 year back-

At 19, Laskshya is now at a career high ranking of 23. Fellow 19 year old Kunlavut is ranked 24. They are the only ones younger than 20 who are in top 25. Still feel Laskhya's progress is a bit stalled at the moment. He may need 3-4 years to reach top 10 level and hope at least attains that, if not top 5.

How wrong has Lakshya proven me. Today he entered the top 10 ranking for the first time in his career and ranked #9 in the latest ranking. It took him just 1 year to achieve something which I though will take 3-4 years.

Next summit will be top 5. Now I do not want to make any prediction of how much it will take for him.

[arjun2761]

Well he is probably already top 5 if you take normal 1 year ranking performance. Absent injury, he'll get there pretty soon.

[ornatebrute]

That's right. If the BWF unfroze the rankings Lakshya would be #2 at the moment. Srikanth #6. Prannoy #16.
Sindhu #3.
Satwik/Chirag #5. Garaga/Panjala #18. Arjun/Kapila #19.
Ponappa/Reddy #9. Jolly/Pullela #10.
None in the XD top 25.
But can't complain as our own players like Saina, Kashyap, Praneeth have benefited from the frozen rankings. With so many other famous players just returning to the circuit after the post Olympic hiatus, I doubt BWF is going to unfreeze it anytime soon.

[sameerph]

Wow,Lakshya at #2. But I think he still needs more time to actually to play consistently at that level.

Btw, Laskhya withdrew from this week's Swiss Open 300. Good decision considering the matches he played in last few weeks. Looks like he will be back for couple of tournaments in Korea in April.

[PKBasu]

He is effectively the #2 player in the world now, with a SF in the world championship, winning the India Open title (beating the newly-crowned world champion), and runner-up finishes in the German Open and All-England championship. The last two finals were a bit disappointing after his great performances in earlier rounds (including beating #1 Axelsen in the German Open SF). But he is definitely the most consistent of the top badminton players in the world over the past 4-5 months.

[ornatebrute]

Unnati Hooda features in the Korean 500 event albeit in doubles. Will be interesting to see her career trajectory after being the youngest Indian ever to win a BWF tour event. Still too young to decide on singles vs doubles and these tournaments would be great exposure.