Anupama Upadhyaya, a member of the Indian badminton squad competing in the Hangzhou Asian Games, stated on Saturday that she looks up to Lakshya Sen.
Anupama Upadhyaya, an Indian badminton player who is competing for her country in the badminton competition at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, stated on Saturday that she looks up to Lakshya Sen, the country’s top badminton player, because he inspired her to compete at the highest level. Anupama described Lakshya as someone she looked up to during her training years under the direction of his father DK Sen in an exclusive interview with ANI. She was also motivated to play internationally by Lakshya. At the age of 11, I began training with Sir DK Sen, the father of Lakshya Sen. Lakshya, who is currently playing at the national and international levels and winning awards, was once someone I looked up to. I used to look at him and aspire to be successful. I made the decision to compete internationally when I was 11 years old and bring home many medals for my nation,” she stated.
Lakshya, her elder, is someone Anupama greatly admires, but Tai Tzu-ying, a Chinese woman, is my ideal, she remarked.
From September 23 to October 8, the Asian Games 2023 will take place in Hangzhou, China, where two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will lead India’s challenge in the women’s singles and team competitions.
Star shuttlers from India, including HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth in the men’s singles event, and Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the men’s doubles event, are competing to earn medals for their nation.
“I am feeling very overwhelmed and excited for the upcoming Asian games, as this would be the first time that I would be representing India at such a higher level,” said Anupama, who is competing in women’s singles. Undoubtedly, the opportunity to train with seniors like Sindhu, Prannoy, and Lakshya is fantastic for me. They have a lot of expertise, and I am learning from them about how they train and get ready for court. Being a part of this team makes me feel very fortunate.
She responded, “I was basically working on my strengths, because when you play at such a higher level, you need to have strength as top-class players are coming to the Asian Games,” when questioned about her preparation for the Asian Games. When I was performing my sessions, I was strict. For the Asian Games, I believe I am very well prepared.
Last month, Anupama won the Tajikistan International Series 2023 championship. She discussed her experience winning.
The Indian shuttler stated, “I was competing in that competition after a long time, and surely that was a nice experience because I wanted to win the title and after so long I got the trophy.
She also discussed the Indonesia Masters 2023, a BWF World Tour Super 100 competition, and her experiences there. She advanced to round 32 but fell to Shiori Saito of Japan with scores of 11–21–7–21.
“There were a lot of Japanese and Indonesian players, so it was a good experience for me,” the athlete said.
Anupama also gave Indian competitor Kiran George her congratulations on his victory at the Indonesia Masters 2023.
“Kiran was performing excellently. I went to see all of his matches in person as well as watching them on YouTube. I want to thank him because I think he did a great job,” she continued.
In her first attempt, Anupama failed to win the Senior National Championship 2019, but in her second attempt, she won the competition in February.
“Before COVID in 2019, I played in the senior nationals for the second time. In the 2019 national, I came in last, but this time, I came out on top. This time, I noticed matches as they appeared. I had no intention of taking home the title. I was thinking, “I want to win the final and I want that big trophy,” as I started walking into the arena for the final. I was the youngest player after Saina Nehwal, so I really wanted to claim that championship,” she said.
