Uttarakhand’s 16-year-old Lakshya Sen battled ankle and shoulder injuries to emerge victorious in the Badminton Asia Junior Championships that concluded in Jakarta on Sunday.

World junior No. 6 Sen, a trainee at Bengaluru’s Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), defeated reigning world junior champion and No. 1 ranked Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-19 21-18 in a 46-minute title clash.

Sen, a losing quarterfinalist in last year’s World Junior Championships, joined Gautam Thakkar (1965) and PV Sindhu (2012) as the only Indians to win gold at the Badminton Asia Juniors.

Vimal Kumar, chief coach and director at PPBA, termed the former world junior No. 1’s win as “very good result”.

“He had a tough draw. And, considering that he has been having some injury issues to his shoulder and ankle, this is a very good result for him,” Kumar told DNA after Sen’s win.

Sen was ecstatic after his tournament victory. “Very happy with my performance in this tournament,” he said.

“I found out some time back that there is a men’s singles Asian Junior winner after 53 years, and it feels great to know this. I will continue to give my best in order to win medals for my country,” the youngster added.

GIANT-KILLER

Lakshya Sen beat top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final, second seed Li Shifeng in quarters and fourth seed Imanuel Rumbay in semis