The Sen brothers set to create a unique badminton record

JAIPUR: The Sen brothers -- Lakshya and Chirag -- are set to create a unique national record when they turn up for the Indian team at the

Badminton Asia Team Championships

in Shah Alam, Malaysia from February 13 to 19.
It is the first time in Indian

badminton

that two brothers have made it to the senior national squad for any major world-level tournament in men’s singles.

There have been brother duos in the last couple of decades who played for the national team including Sameer and Sourabh Verma, Pratul and Aditya Joshi and Kidambi Srikanth and K. Nandagopal, but never have two brothers together represented India in the senior squad.
Elder brother Chirag, 25, shot into the limelight last month when he became the men’s singles national champion at Guwahati. That paved the way for his selection in the Indian team despite a current world ranking of 97.

World No. 16 Lakshya, 22, has been a regular member of the senior squad for the last few years.
It will be a dream come true for the siblings’ father DK Sen, who always wanted to see both his sons don the national colours.
“I always dreamt of both my kids playing together in the senior Indian team ever since I started their training 15 years ago. As a father, I can’t expect more than that. I don’t know whether it’s a national record or not, but I can certainly say that it’s a rare occasion for two brothers to turn up for the Indian team together,” DK Sen told TOI on Wednesday.

Senior Sen, himself a reputed coach, introduced his kids to the game when they were staying in Almora, Uttarakhand. The brothers have been training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) for more than a decade, where their father is one of the coaches.
“When Chirag and Lakshya started doing well at the national-level, people around me used to call them Steve and Mark Waugh. My friends were confident that one day, Chirag and Lakshya would represent the Indian team just like Waugh brothers did for the Australian cricket side. I am happy that I could live up to their expectations now. I am proud of my sons. When Lakshya won a couple of Super 500 titles, a 2021 World Championships bronze and silver at All England Championships, people used to say he is way ahead of Chirag. But I always believed Chirag would rise to the occasion one day,” said DK Sen.
Senior Sen is confident that recent success would certainly motivate Chirag and he would also start making his mark at the world level like Lakshya.