Lakshya Sen claims visa issues forced him to forgo the Canada Open

Lakshya Sen has claimed that the reason he missed out on defending his men's singles title at the ongoing Canada Open was due to visa issues. The Paris-bound shuttler was listed in the main draw acceptance list for the event, but wasn't a part of it, leading to questions from fans.

Sen was last seen in action at the Indonesia Open, where he lost out in the quarterfinals to Denmark’s Anders Antonsen. An Olympic quota in hand, the Indian chose to turn his focus to training for the next stretch, but was supposed to be back to court at the Canada Open, which started on June 2.

However, he opted out of the event at the last minute, and what was initially thought of as a strategy for the Olympic Games turned out to be visa issues.

Taking to his X, Lakshya Sen wrote:

“Would have loved to defend my Canada Open title. Unfortunately, my Canadian visa did not come through in time despite efforts all around, including @IndiaSports, @AuthorityIndia & @BAI_SocialMedia. I’ll use the additional training time well towards my Paris Olympics preparations.”

This isn't the first time Sen has been faced with visa issues. Last November, the World No. 14 had taken to his social media to ask for help in securing a visa for the Japan and China Open, writing:

“I have to travel to Japan & China Open on Sat. Me and my team applied for Japan visa on 30/10/23. We still haven’t got the visa. I have to apply for a China visa as well. Urgent request for visa for myself, my coach and physio. Please help @ianuragthakur Sir @PMOIndia @meaindia1.”

Things had worked themselves out that time though, with Lakshya Sen making it to both events.

Lakshya Sen at the 2023 Canada Open

The last time Lakshya Sen played at the Canada Open, he walked away at the men's singles titlist breaking a streak of mediocre performance. In the first round, the Indian took down world champion and second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn with a score of 21-18, 21-15.

Next, he got the better of Ygor Coelho before beating Julien Carraggi to move into the semifinals. Sen then beat fourth seed Kenta Nishimoto before triumphing over fifth seed Li Shi Feng in the finals to win his first title of the year.