Lakshya Sen At All England Open: Five Reasons Why You Should Follow Indian Shuttler's Campaign

Indian men's singles spearhead Lakshya Sen is set to take the court for his round of 16 showdown with Hong Kong's Angus Ng Ka Long at the All England Open Badminton Championships 2026 in Birmingham on Thursday (March 5).

There's a lot of hope riding on Sen after his stunning victory in the opening round. Later in the day, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto face Chun Man Tang and Ying Suet Tse, also from Hong Kong, in the mixed doubles pre-quarter-finals.

ALSO READ: Lakshya Sen Vs Angus Ng Ka Long Live Score

Here are five reasons why you should follow Sen's All England campaign closely:

Beat World Number One In Opening Round

Lakshya defeated China's Shi Yuqi, the reigning world number one, to make a Sen-sational start to his campaign. The Indian took a hard-fought first game by 23-21 before going down in the second 19-21 and then rebounding to claim the third, 21-17. The match lasted 78 minutes and was perhaps the biggest win in Sen's career so far.

Only Indian Singles Player In Fray

With PV Sindhu forced to withdraw from the tournament due to being stranded in Dubai amid the Middle East conflict, Sen was the biggest name from the country competing in singles. He now is also the only one left, as Ayush Shetty (men's), Malvika Bansod and Unnati Hooda (women's) all bowed out in the first round.

Aiming To Emulate Ex-Coach Padukone, Gopichand

With his win over Shi Yuqi, Sen did something that his former coach Prakas Padukone had done back in 1978: defeat then world number one Liem Swi King of Indonesia. Lakshya is now seeking to emulate Padukone again by bettering his runners-up finish in 2022 and go all the way this time. Only Pullela Gopichand has achieved the feat apart from Padukone, from India.

Can Sen Break 3-Match Losing Streak?

Though he would be buoyed by his first-round victory, Sen would be wary of his next opponent Angus Ng Ka Long, against whom the Indian has a 0-3 head-to-head record. The 24-year-old would be eager to change that and try to notch up his first win against the Hong Kong shuttler to enter the quarters.

Beyond Cricket

The Indian sports landscape is currently dominated by cricket, as almost always. The ongoing T20 World Cup has exacerbated that, but Sen's encouraging performance has shown that non-cricket sports have a lot to offer too, by way of excitement as well as results. The Indian women's football team, for instance, is in Australia for the AFC Women's Asian Cup, a tournament for which the Blue Tigresses have qualified by merit for the first time in history.