Indian shuttlers, including the likes of double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and Paris 2024 breakthrough star Lakshya Sen, have struggled to get going in the 2025 season.
Sen’s childhood coach believes a lot of current crop of players have not used their potential to the fore. He has, however, seen healthy signs in Ayush Shetty’s growth and Tharun Mannepalli’s progress.
“Arun George and Satish Karunakaran showed immense potential but they have not made the big leap into the top 30s so that they can play in the Super Series events regularly. They come out with good wins but the consistency is missing. They have to make it big in the next year, otherwise it will be difficult for them as a lot of promising players are coming up from other countries. At their age, they should be winning tournaments by now.
“Ayush Shetty has come up with some good wins and has entered the top 40 which is a healthy sign. He can be a big star considering he is only 19. Tharun Mannepalli is another player who holds promise,’‘ said the coach who was in Thiruvananthapuram on a private visit.
Meanwhile, for his own student Lakshya, consistency is lacking, he insists.
The Paris 2024 breakthrough star was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the 2025 All England Open, while he exited in R16 in Indonesia Masters, and R32 in the India Open.
“Lakshya Sen is still among the top 20. But he has to find consistency and win some big tournaments, the Super 1000 and Super 750 events. He is going to be our mainstay in the coming years,’‘ he added.
Speaking about he has looked at coaching at the Prakash Padukone Academy, he says, “The success was not only about the dedication and passion we had and coaching was never a business for us. We never charged any fees to our trainees. We covered the expenses through sponsorship and we could demand and push the players to train hard.”
The 62-year-old also praised BAI’s facility in Guwahati. It is good that BAI has started an academy in Guwahati but we need more such academies and they should be strategically located so that players from different parts of the country can come and train without any hassles. I hope BAI will soon start more coaching centres in other parts of the country.”