India’s Lakshya Sen during the Men’s Singles Semifinal badminton match against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
Lakshya Sen reveals to PM Modi that his coach, Prakash Padukone, has taken away his mobile phone during the Paris Olympics to minimize distractions.
PM Modi asks Sen, “Do you know you have become a celebrity now?”
Lakshya with a smile on his face replied, “Matches ke time phone Prkash sir ne liya tha aur bola ki matches ke baad hi milega (Prakash sir took away my phone… said won’t get back till matches are done).”
PM Modi promptly replied, “If Prakash sir is so strict, will send him next time too.”
India’s Lakshya Sen in action at the Port de la Chapelle Arena during the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo)
Lakshya Sen who squandered an early advantage to lose his bronze-medal playoff, admitted that it was heartbreaking for him and he will learn from this experience.
“It was a good learning experience for me. It was heartbreaking as well I was so close to win a medal. But I will make sure that I will do well in the future,” he said.
India came to Paris feeling sanguine about their chances of a double-digit medal haul for the first time. But the 100-plus contingern managed only six medals, and coundn’t even matches the haul from the previous edition.
While shooting delivered medals after back-to-back Olympic flops, sports like badminton, where India has won a medal in each of the last three Games, and boxing, which has fetched medals in three out of the last four editions, have drawn a blank.
Lakshya Sen’s coach and badminton legend Prakash Padukone has called for the players to ‘introspect’ and ask themselves whether they are ‘doing enough’ to win a medal at the Olympics.
“Maybe, you know, the players are not working hard enough. Maybe, it is not enough to get a medal at the Olympics. So you (players) need to work also,” Padukone had told reporters in Paris.
When he was whether the players were pampered to such an extent that it affected their hunger to win, Padukone replied: “Maybe, to some extent. That (pampering) is also required. I hope the players also realise… when you ask for certain things, they also need to deliver. If they don’t deliver, then I think you need to be a little firm. Maybe the federation or the government can be. Let’s be frank.”
