The Indian badminton players’ performance in the recently concluded Paris Olympics 2024 was quite disappointing as they couldn’t win a medal for the country and the biggest heartbreak was Lakshya Sen’s defeat in the match for bronze medal.
The former Indian badminton player and head coach Prakash Padukone expressed his unhappiness over the performance of Indian shuttlers especially Lakshya Sen. When he was asked to comment by the reporters, he 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.”
After Prakash Padukone slammed the Indian shuttlers, many people from the Indian sports fraternity including Sunil Gavaskar came out in support of Padukone. Sunil Gavaskar stated, “He has always been reticent and publicity-shy, and he goes about his life with as much quiet as his famous dribble at the net. Therefore, his frank comments after the badminton disappointment came as a surprise to so many who have known him over the years to keep his counsel and not say much.”
He further added, “Making excuses is where our country will win gold medals every single time, so the debate around his assessment was more about that than looking without tinted glasses at what he said.”
This is what Sunil Gavaskar wrote about Lakshya Sen in an article, “As he came to the cusp of an Olympic medal, Prakash was by the courtside along with the hard-working and indefatigable Vimal Kumar to see the fulfillment of not just Lakshya’s dream but also that of the entire community of Indian badminton lovers.”
He further wrote, “He, Vimal Kumar, the BAI, and the government’s TOPS had done everything possible, but when it came to the crunch, Lakshya was, in the famous words of the Indian cricket team captain (Rohit Sharma), ‘garden mein ghoomne wala’.”
Do you agree with Sunil Gavaskar in regard to Lakshya Sen?
