The balancing act that Lakshya needs to perform

India`s Lakshya Sen during his Canada Open final against Li Shi Feng of China in Calgary, Canada, on Sunday. PIC/Getty Images

FORMER India badminton coach U Vimal Kumar insists that though social media is an important aspect in any athlete's life, they need to know how to strike a balance between their training and interaction with their followers online. And that implies to his ward Lakshya Sen too.

U Vimal Kumar. PIC/His Twitter handle

Sen, who recently won the Canada Open on Sunday defeating reigning All England champion Li Shi Feng of China 21-18, 22-20, has 310k followers on Instagram and 61.5k followers on Twitter. World No. 12 Sen, 21, regularly updates his followers on his training, travel and he even interacts with them sometimes.

"Social media has become important for players across the globe. And it is no different for Lakshya. Interacting with his followers, increasing his fan base is required too besides his regular routine of on-court training, strength and conditioning, recovery, travel, etc. At the same time, what's more important for them is to find the right balance. They need to learn how to minimise their involvement on social media. If they are able to strike that balance, half the job is done. I have seen Lakshya since he was nine. And he is quite responsible and knows the importance of taking care of everything around him. But he is still young and sometimes he does get affected," remarked Vimal Kumar.

All that the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy(PPBA) coach wishes for Sen is to not just rise in popularity on social media, but rise to the top of the badminton ranking too.