What is the controversy regarding Lakshya Sen's age?

FIR has been lodged against the star shuttler, his brother, his parents and his coach.

Lakshya Sen is one of the premiere Badminton players in India. The shuttler made the nation proud when he won the Gold Medal in Men’s Singles badminton in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Sen was also part of the Indian team that won the 2022 Thomas Cup.

However, despite his numerous achievements at the young age of 21, the youngster finds himself wrapped in controversy.

The Controversy

Lakshya Sen’s achievements at such a young age are awe-inspiring, some believe that it is too impressive to be true. And that is the centre of the controversy, Chirag’s age. An FIR has been filed against the shuttler that he has forged his age to get into competitions of lower age groups. The FIR has been charged by M Goviappa Nagaraja and also includes the name of Chirag’s brother Lakshya who was accused of the same crime.

According to the FIR, the actual age of Lakshya is 24 years while his official registered age in the Badminton Association of India is 21 years. His brother Chirag is allegedly 26 years old while his registered age is 24 years.

Along with Chirag and Lakshya, their parents Dhirendra Sen and Nirmala Sen have also been named in the FIR. Former national coach Vimal Kumar, who has been the boys’ coach for ten years, was also named in the FIR. Dhirendra Sen, the father of the two shuttlers is a coach with the Sports Authority of India.

The complainant M Goviappa Nagaraja formerly ran a Badminton Academy. He claims that the brothers have forged their age to help them compete in tournaments since 2010. Nagaraja also claims to have presented documents to the legal authorities in order to support his accusations.

The Aftermath

Despite the FIR, Lakshya Sen has not been charged with any crime yet. The allegations are yet to be proven. According to coach Vimal Kumar, the accusations against them are totally baseless. Lakshya Sen is yet to make any comments regarding this matter.

The act of forging age by athletes in India is a very common occurrence. Many athletes across sports have been found guilty of this crime. The most common punishment is a ban on the athlete. Lakshya could be facing a ban if the accusations against him are found to be true. However, just an FIR has been filed, so it would be too early to jump to conclusions.