Lakshya Sen: FIR lodged against Commonwealth Games gold medalist Lakshya Sen, alleging age rigging

Arjuna Awardee and Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medalist shuttler Lakshya Sen has been accused of falsifying age. According to media reports, an FIR has also been registered against him in this matter in Bengaluru. According to reports, Lakshya Sen has been accused of fudging his age to gain entry into age-restricted tournaments while competing at the junior level.

The complainant also runs a badminton academy

Bangalore Police has registered an FIR against Lakshya and a coach of his badminton academy following a complaint by a person named Nagaraja MG. Nagaraja also runs a badminton academy in the city. Recently, a local court directed the police to investigate the allegations against the 21-year-old target. Lakshya trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore.

Lakshya's family and coach are also named in the FIR.

Those named in the FIR include Lakshya, his coach Vimal Kumar, his father Dhirendra Sen, his brother Chirag and his mother Nirmala Sen. Chirag is a badminton player himself and Dhirendra is a coach in the Sports Authority of India. According to media reports, Nagaraja alleges that coach Vimal made a birth certificate in 2010 in collaboration with Lakshya's parents, in which the ages of Chirag and Lakshya have been rigged. This enabled him to participate in age-group tournaments. Otherwise, he would have been ineligible to compete.

What does the complainant have to say?

The complainant states that with the support of the Karnataka Badminton Association and coach Vimal Kumar, Lakshya started playing against competitors below his age group. Also using age as an advantage, Lakshya won many tournaments and received many benefits from the government. This resulted in the loss of other talented children. The complainant states that Lakshya was born in 1998, whereas records show that Lakshya was born in 2001.

Coach Vimal Kumar denied the allegations

However, coach Vimal Kumar denied being aware of the allegations made in the FIR. He said- I am not even aware of the allegations leveled by the complainant. I have no role in this. Lakshya came to our academy and I trained him like any other kid since 2010. I had heard that a family was trying to malign the academy and my image, but it never bothered us.

Lakshya was honored with the Arjuna Award

Lakshya and others have been booked under various IPC sections including sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged record). Lakshya recently won the gold medal in men's singles at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Recently President Draupadi Murmu honored Lakshya with the Arjuna Award.

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