Paris Olympics 2024: Prakash Padukone Left Unimpressed By Lakshya Sen

On Monday, India ended its Badminton campaign at the Paris Olympics sans a medal. The Indian contingent sent a team of 7 shuttlers to feature across 4 medal events. Though the shuttlers put on some sublime performances, the team eventually concluded their campaign without managing to win even a single medal. While the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto crashed in the group stage itself, the likes of PV Sindhu and Satwik-Chirag managed to get past the pre-quarterfinals stage. Meanwhile, getting the farthest was the 22-year-old Olympics debutant, Lakshya Sen. The shuttler made it to the semi-finals, becoming the first-ever Indian to reach the stage in the Men’s singles event. However, he faced a defeat against Viktor Axelsen in the semifinals before losing the bronze medal match as well.

The Indian shuttlers have yet not managed to clinch an Olympics medal in the Men’s singles event. The Badminton medal tally opened for India when Saina Nehwal won the bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. Subsequently, PV Sindhu arrived at the scene winning a silver and a bronze at the 2016 Rio and 2021 Tokyo games respectively. However, India is still forced to seek content with just these 3 medals. This year, Lakshya Sen came close before fate eventually repeated itself. 

Prakash Padukone Criticises Indian Shuttlers As They Conclude Paris Olympics Sans A Medal

After the conclusion of the Badminton event, Indian shuttlers have received a flak from former Badminton champion and coach, Prakash Padukone. Padukone, the coach of Lakshya Sen, came down hard on Sen, asking for the players to take the accountability of the results. The former player counted the support that is being provided to the players, in turn, emphasising the need for players to deliver the expected results.

“After Milkha Singh in '64 and PT Usha in the 80s, we have had so many fourth-place finishes. I think that it’s high time that the players also take responsibility,” Padukone said. "At Least for the results in this Olympics and the previous one, you cannot hold the federations and government responsible for the results. They have all done whatever they can. Ultimately the responsibility is on the players to go and deliver when it matters the most,” Padukone added.

Padukone highlighted the facilities enjoyed by the Indian players with each of them having personal strength and conditioning coaches. The coach compared the facilities with the foreign setups, going on to say that even the US won't be providing this many aids to its players. 

“The players need to introspect, and not just keep asking for more from the federations. They need to ask themselves whether they are working hard enough, because all of these players have their own physios and all the facilities. I don’t think any other country, including the US, has so many facilities,” Padukone explained.

"He Should Work Harder": Padukone Left Unimpressed By The Performance Of Lakshya Sen

Lakshya Sen, in his debut Olympics season, performed exceptionally well. In his medal quest, Sen beat World No.3 Jonatan Christie, 12-21, 21-10, 21-15 to advance to the pre-quarterfinal. Moreover, Lakshya Sen squared up with Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the quarter-final beating him 19-21, 21-15, 21-12. However, Sen suffered consecutive defeats against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in the semifinal and Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match to return home without a medal.

While Sen is said to have performed well, his coach Prakash Padukone appeared unimpressed by the finish. Padukone is of the stance that Lakshya Sen was in a favourable position to win the bronze medal against Lee Zii Jia. The coach was particularly unimpressed by Lakshya for the way he lost the lead against his Malaysian opponent.

“I and Vimal are not happy with the fourth position of Lakshya (Sen). He could have definitely gotten a medal. I know (Viktor) Axelsen might say that Lakshya is the next best, but that is not good enough because there was a possibility of a medal. Had he lost comfortably, it would have been a different issue. But to have come this far, to have taken the lead…I know he is young, but he cannot give this as an excuse. Take the responsibility and work harder,” said Padukone.

Prakash Padukone has been a key element in the Indian Badminton setup and mentored Lakshya through the Paris Olympics. The former All England Open champion stated that India went to Paris in contention of at least 3 medals in the Badminton tournament. Thus, to return empty-handed is disappointing and maybe this time the players need to focus on where they lacked before questioning the infrastructure.