Lakshya Sen meets badminton legend Lin Dan ahead of King Cup opener, shares photo with ‘absolute idol’ caption

Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen is set to compete in the King Cup International Badminton Open 2024, which is scheduled to be held from December 27 to 29 in Shenzhen, China. The tournament has been launched by two-time Olympic champion and badminton legend Lin Dan.

The tournament will feature eight men’s singles players, who will fight for the inaugural edition’s title. The tournament is not part of the BWF calendar, and doesn’t affect points of the players.

Lakshya, who is the Commonwealth Games champion, took part in the trophy presentation ceremony on Thursday, and also took to Instagram to post photos of the event. He also posted a photo with the man behind this tournament, China’s Dan.

Lakshya captioned the photo as, “Honored to share space with the legend himself, @thereallindan absolute idol.”

Other than Lakshya, the tournament will feature Paris Olympics silver medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, reigning world champion Anders Antonsen of Denmark, 2021 world champion Loh Kean of Singapore, Angus Ng Ka Long from Hong Kong and Frenchman Alex Lanier. The Chinese challenge will be led by 18-year-old local shuttlers Hu Zhe An and Wang Zi Jun, who are ranked outside the top-100.

Lakshya’s campaign will begin against Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long in the quarter-finals, on Friday. The competition will also have a single-elimination format, with 10 fixtures.

Meanwhile, Kunlavut will face Antonsen in his opener and Lainer will take on local boy Zi Jun. Meanwhile, Zhe An will face Kean Yew in his opener. After the openers, the semis will take place on Saturday. The third-place playoff and final will take place on Sunday.

Sunday will also see an exhibition match between Dan and Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat. Hidayat is also a retired shuttler and the 2004 Olympics champion. Dan retired from the sport in July 2020 after the world tour got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.