You’re my new hero: Gavaskar tells Lakshya Sen

Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar meets badminton participant Lakshya Sen
| Photograph Credit score: PTI

A star-struck Lakshya Sen could not imagine his eyes when the legendary Sunil Gavaskar dropped in on the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru to satisfy him and the kids.

The 73-year-old Mr. Gavaskar, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning cricket group, paid a go to to the academy throughout a daily journey to the town on Thursday.

“He had a meeting in Bengaluru and decided to meet the young aspiring kids of the academy. Badminton and cricket are two of his favourite sports. He was here with us for about an hour,” Vimal Kumar, co-founder, director and chief coach of the PPBA, advised PTI.

Mr. Gavaskar later posted an image with Lakshya Sen on Instagram and captioned it: “My new badminton hero Lakshya Sen, after the one and only Prakash Padukone.”

The legendary cricketer had hailed Padukone a number of instances whereas doing cricket commentary over time, saying he’s certainly one of India’s biggest sportspersons.

Mr. Sen, who has been certainly one of India’s most prolific sportspersons in 2022, mentioned he was too star caught to react.

“It feels good to hear such things from such big personalities. Honestly, I was too star stuck to react,” Sen advised PTI.

The 21-year-old from Almora gained gold on the 2022 Commonwealth Video games and the India Open Tremendous 500. He was additionally a member of the historic Thomas Cup win. He additionally gained silver on the All England Championships and can also be the winner of the 2021 World Championships bronze medal.

“Gavaskar sir spoke about the Thomas Cup win. I have heard so much about him from my parents and all the seniors. Also when I watched the movie ’83’, I got to know what went behind that epic win,” he mentioned.

“I can relate to it now, essentially after the Thomas Cup win because back then they were the underdogs and in Thomas Cup, it was us.”

India had claimed their first-ever Thomas Cup, beating Indonesia 3-0 within the last at Bangkok in Might final yr.

Requested what did Mr. Gavaskar focus on with the budding shuttlers, Mr. Vimal mentioned, “He also gave some tips to the youngsters, asking them to analyse what went right in a day to get the best out of training.

“Gavaskar and Prakash are two self-taught heroes of Indian sport, so coming from him means loads.”

Mr. Gavaskar’s love for badminton is well-known. He was the co-owner of Mumbai Masters, a franchise which made the last-four of the inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL).

Every time the previous cricketer is in Mumbai, and is ready to spare time from his busy commentary schedule, he makes it some extent to play just a few video games of badminton.