Lakshya Sen becomes the youngest Indian men's singles shuttler to break into top 50

What's the story?

The ever-improving Lakshya Sen created history on Tuesday, November 6, 2019 by becoming the youngest Indian shuttler to break into the top 50 of the BWF men's singles world rankings.

Sen's recent title win at the SaarLorLux Open, a Super 100 tournament, prompted a rise of nine spots for the 18-year-old from Uttarakhand, pushing him to a career-high No. 42.

In case you didn't know...

Sen's success at the SaarLorLux Open in Saarbrucken, Germany was his third consecutive title win following his triumphs at the Belgian International in September and the Dutch Open in October.

While the first one was an International Challenge event, his victories at the Dutch Open and the SaarLorLux Open were even more significant for they came at the Super 100 level.

The heart of the matter

Happy to win 3rd consecutive title and my second Bwf super 100 event. Would like to thank all my coaches sponsors and all the people who were supporting me in the hall today. @OGQ_India @Herbalifeindia @BAI_Media @YonexInd @Sports_PDCSE #prakashpdukoneacademy pic.twitter.com/5knoEPlLUH

— Lakshya Sen (@lakshya_sen) November 4, 2019

Sen, a product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, has been touted as the next big thing in Indian badminton for quite some time. While he soared at the junior level last year, earning the gold at the Asian Junior Championships, a silver at the Youth Olympics and a bronze at the World Junior Championships, it is only this year in which he started racking up the wins in the senior circuit.

A runner-up finish at the Polish Open at the start of the year could not deter him, and after spending hours training with the former World No. 1 Morten Frost in Denmark, he bounced back to build an incredible 14-match winning streak en route to the above-mentioned three title wins.

Aside from Sen's accomplishment, India achieved yet another first as, for the first time in the history of the BWF World Rankings, 8 shuttlers from the country found a place in the top 50 of men's singles.

While Kidambi Srikanth remains at the 10th spot, Sai Praneeth is right behind him at 11th, followed by Sameer Verma at 17th, Parupalli Kashyap at 25th and HS Prannoy at 29th. Between 30 and 50 are Sourabh Verma at 38th and Subhankar Dey at 47th, besides Lakshya Sen.

What's next?

Sen is scheduled to feature next at the Irish Open, an International Challenge tournament to be held from November 13 to November 16.