India’s Lakshya Sen was a relieved man – well, a relieved boy – after winning the Bulgaria International Series title on Thursday. The 16-year-old, who is the current junior world No 1, has now won the second senior international title of his career after last year’s India International Series.

However, the title win came after a gap of nine months, in a season where the Uttarakhand boy is slowly transitioning from playing on the junior circuit to the senior.

“This is my first title of the year so it feels great,” Sen told The Field after beating second seed Zvonimir Durkinjak of Croatia in the final of the Bulgaria International Series. “Before this I had lost in the quarters, or the semis, or the final, so to win a tournament after a long time feels very good.”

Sen reached the semi-finals and final of the Dutch Junior Open and German Junior Open respectively, but exited early in the Asia Junior Championships (round of 16), the Smiling Fish International Challenge (round of 16), the Victor International Series (quarter-finals), and the Malaysia International Series (round of 32).

Since reaching the final of the senior national championships and being crowned the junior world No 1 in February this year, Sen has been slowly knocking off junior tournaments from his calendar. He has only played three junior international tournaments this year, compared with five at the senior level. As a result, he has played many shuttlers who are either higher ranked or senior to him on the circuit.

In Bulgaria, Sen came up against the top seed and world No 90, Sam Parsons, in the very first round. He also faced two 29-year-olds and a 30-year-old en route to the title.

Difficult transition

“The transition from juniors to seniors is difficult,” Sen, who is ranked 167th in the word now, told The Field. “In seniors, from the first round itself all the matches are tough. You have to give your 100% in every match. The players are also different [from the junior circuit]. In every round you play a new player and you mostly don’t know how he plays but you can’t help it. You have to manage to play them and win matches.”

As he plays more frequently on the senior circuit and moves up tournament tiers, Sen will know that his opponents, regardless of age, will get tougher. “To get to the next level is not going to be easy but he will surely be there,” said former national champion Sayali Gokhale, who is one of Sen’s coaches at the Prakash Padukone academy.

“Lakshya is getting the experience of playing in different tournaments, against different players, so that has helped him,” she added. “He is starting to get good results in the seniors. We have certain targets for him, but it will be a step-by-step process. We won’t push him just because he is getting good results. It has to be in progression.”

Following the Asian Junior Championships last month, Sen got to train at the French National Badminton Training Centre for 10 days as part of an exchange programme with the Padukone academy. Here, he had the opportunity to train and interact with the chief coach of the French national team and former All England champion Peter Gade.

“It was a great experience,” Sen said. “We got to play senior French players who are playing in the [international] circuit and are in the top 50 of the world. We got a good sparring with them. Their training sessions are a bit shorter and more explosive. Our sessions are a bit longer but it’s okay to have a combination of both. Sometimes it’s good to have shorter sessions with more intensity.”

Sen will now head back to the Padukone academy in Bengaluru before his next challenge at the Vietnam Open Grand Prix in September. He will then look to win the World Junior Championships in October before heading back to the senior circuit. “I will be playing more senior tournaments but the World Junior Championship is important, so that’s the last junior tournament for this year,” he said.