Rasquinha happy to see 10-year-old shuttler he supported go on to make history in Paris Olympics

New Delhi: After Lakshya Sen made Olympic Games history for India by reaching the men’s singles semifinals on Friday, former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha took to social media to say he was delighted to see the boy whom he has been supporting since he was 10 make history.

Rasquinha is the CEO of the Olympic Gold Quest, which was set up by badminton legend Prakash Padukone and billiards ace Geet Sethi to support budding talent. OGQ has been supporting Lakshya from a very young age and as CEO, Rasquinha has played a key role in this association.

“Been supporting this boy since he was 10 years old. So proud that at the age of 22, he has now become the first Indian Men’s Badminton player to reach the semifinals of the Olympics. Keep going @lakshya_sen,” said Rasquinha in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

in his post, Rasquinha also tagged the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy where Lakshya, who hails from Uttarakhand, currently trains, and also his own organisation, the OGQ. With the post, Rasquinha attached a photograph of a 10-year-old Lakshya Sen and himself.

Lakshya Sen made history at the Olympic Games on Friday by becoming the first Indian male shuttler to reach the semifinals.

While P.V Sindhu had bagged two medals in the Olympic Games and Saina Nehwal claimed a bronze in the 2012 edition in London, no Indian male player had reached the medal rounds in the Olympics.

Sen achieved that feat with a hard-fought victory over Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 19-21, 21-15, 21-12 in a 76-minute encounter in the men’s singles quarterfinals on Friday.

Lakshya will next meet the winner of the match between Denmark’s top seed Viktor Axelsen and former World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore. If he wins the semifinals, he will storm into the final and a defeat will put him in the bronze medal match.

–IANS