Lakshya Sen (born 16 August 2001) is an Indian badminton player from Uttarakhand. A former junior world number one, he won bronze at the 2021 World Championships, helped India win the Thomas Cup for the first time in 2022 and took the men’s singles gold at the Commonwealth Games the same year. At the 2024 Paris Olympics he became the first Indian man to reach an Olympic badminton semi-final and finished fourth.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Lakshya Sen |
| Born | 16 August 2001, Almora, Uttarakhand, India |
| Age | 25 |
| Sport | Badminton (men’s singles) |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Coaches | Vimal Kumar, Prakash Padukone |
| Father | D. K. Sen (coach) |
| Sibling | Chirag Sen (badminton player) |
| Honour | Arjuna Award (2022) |
Early Life
Sen comes from a badminton family in the hill town of Almora. His grandfather, C. L. Sen, brought the sport to the town, and his father, D. K. Sen, is a coach. At nine he followed his elder brother, Chirag, to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, founded by the father of Deepika Padukone, where Vimal Kumar took charge of his training.
Career
He became junior world number one in 2017. In 2018 he won the Asian Junior Championships, bronze at the World Junior Championships and, at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, silver in the boys’ singles and gold in the mixed team event.
He won bronze at the World Championships in Huelva in December 2021. In 2022 he won the India Open, reached the final of the All England Open, was part of the team that beat Indonesia to win the Thomas Cup, and won gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, beating Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong in the final.
At the Paris Olympics he beat the world number four Jonatan Christie and Chou Tien-chen to reach the semi-finals, where he lost to the eventual champion, Viktor Axelsen, after leading in both games. He lost the bronze medal match to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia.
He won the Syed Modi International in 2024 and the Australian Open in November 2025, his first title on the world tour in over a year.
Personal Life
Sen’s parents moved to Bengaluru to be with their sons. He had surgery to correct a deviated nasal septum in 2022, which had affected his breathing.
Awards and Honours
Major Medals
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Lakshya Sen born?
Lakshya Sen was born on 16 August 2001 in Almora, Uttarakhand, India and is 25 years old.
Featured image: Lakshya Sen in the boys’ singles final at the Youth Olympic Games, Buenos Aires, 12 October 2018. Photo by Sandro Halank, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
