16-year-old Lakshya wins Bulgaria Open Int'l Series

Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen today clinched the Bulgaria Open International Series title after notching up a hard-fought win over Croatia's Zvonimir Durkinjak in the men's singles final in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The Uttarakhand shuttler, who celebrated his 16th birthday yesterday, defeated second seed Zvonimir 18-21 21-12 21-17 in a 57-minute match. He had beaten Sri Lanka's Dinuka Karunaratna 21-19 21-14 in the semi-finals yesterday.

World Junior No 1 was recently sent to train under former All England champion Peter Gade, who is currently the head coach of French national team.

Lakshya, who had reached the finals of Senior National championship in February.

"It is a creditable achievement for Lakshya. He is still a junior but he has been able to win tournaments and that is a good sign. We had sent five players on a 10-day training trip with the French national team. He trained under the great Peter Gade and it has benefitted him," coach Vimal Kumar told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)