“Whenever I meet Neeraj bhaiya, I get motivated even more” - Lakshya Sen on interacting with the ace javelin thrower at the Paris Olympics

Lakshya Sen will begin his outing at the Paris Olympics on Saturday evening as he takes to court for his group stage match against Kevin Cordon. After that encounter, the Indian shuttler will get a day off to rest and recover, and he's excited to make the most of it as he interacts with the rest of the Indian contingent, including Tokyo gold medalist Neeraj Chopra.

For Sen, this outing in the City of Lights will mark his Olympic debut, but while he may have never competed in this marquee event before, he's no stranger to the biggest sporting stages of the world.

Speaking to Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview, Sen revealed that he'd gotten a chance to interact with a large part of the Indian team at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, and was looking forward to repeating that experience, especially when it came to javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.

“I think I have met most of them (Indian team) in the Asian Games or the Commonwealth Games, but whenever I meet Neeraj bhaiya, I get motivated even more. Him, and I think the whole Indian contingent like the hockey team - I would also interact with them and get to know a lot more things about other sports at dinner time. We go out and have a lot of fun and it's quite relaxing to meet different players and get to know about them," Lakshya Sen said.

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Lakshya Sen on qualifying for the Paris Olympics and the pressures that come with it

While Lakshya Sen is likely focused on playing his opening round of the Paris Olympics now, the road to the Games for the 22-year-old has been rocky to say the least. A weak string of performances in early 2023 put the shuttler’s chances of qualification in doubt, but when the Olympic quota finally arrived, all the sacrifices to get there were worth it.

Speaking to Sportskeeda in the same conversation, Sen said:

“When we got to know that we have qualified, it was a good feeling. I think the qualification period was tough and until the last moment we were not sure of the qualifications. So when it came, it was a good feeling and I think also with the hard work that we have put in and the pressure which we were under, it was all worth it in the end.”

As soon as he crossed the hurdle of qualifying for the Paris Olympics, another challenge lay in wait for Lakshya Sen. This time, the obstacle was the expectations and pressures that come with representing India at such a big stage. While he can do nothing about the expectations, the youngster is focused on the one thing he can control - his preparation.

“There will be some amount of pressure from this tournament and there will be a lot of expectations. But yeah, I think as of now I am focused on doing the right preparation. I have good people around me to guide me and yeah, I'm really looking forward to it and I'm excited to play at the Olympics and give my best.”

Lakshya Sen will be in action today at La Chapelle Arena at (or after) 7:10 PM IST as he takes on Guatemala's Kevin Cordon for his opening group stage match. Post this, he will return to court on Monday, July 29, for his second group stage match, this time against Germany's Julien Carraggi.