Lakshya Sen seeks help from PM Modi, Anurag Thakur after not receiving visa to travel for BWF Japan, China Open

The Japan Masters 2023 is set to begin next Tuesday.

Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen took to X (formerly Twitter) to seek help from Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, and Ministry of External Affairs to resolve his visa issue and help him compete at the Japan and China Open BWF tournaments.

The Japan Masters 2023 is set to begin on November 14. He and his team have planned to travel to Japan on Saturday (November 11) but to their surprise, they have not yet received their visas, for which they had applied for on October 30.

Sen took to X and tweeted, “I have to travel to Japan & China Open on Sat. Me and my team applied for a Japan visa on 30/10/23. We still haven’t got the visa. I have to apply for a China visa as well. Urgent request for a visa for myself, my coach, and my physio. Please help @ianuragthakur Sir @PMOIndia @meaindia1.”

The 17th-ranked star last participated in the BWF French Open 2023. Unfortunately, he was defeated in the first round by Arnaud Merkle of France in straight games with scores of 15-21 and 18-21.

Lakshya Sen, who had previously secured a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games, is preparing to participate in the forthcoming Japan Masters. The tournament is scheduled to take place from November 14th to November 19. He will commence his journey by facing a formidable opponent, Kodai Naroka from Japan, who holds the third seed in the event.

The junior world champion, Lakshya, commenced the season positively, triumphantly securing the Canada Open 2023 title in July. However, his endeavors to surpass the semifinals hurdle in the Thailand Open, US Open, and Japan Open earlier this year were met with disappointment.

In the previous five tournaments where Lakshya participated, he encountered defeat in the initial rounds. Now he would aim to reverse this trend in the upcoming final few tournaments of this year.