PARIS: Indian badminton has hit a blockade here at the Paris Games. No medals to show and the picture it presented was that of gloom and despair. As soon as Lakshya Sen floundered a game advantage, years of hard work came to naught. Firing a blank after winning medals at the last three Olympics will definitely not go down well. The embers of the badminton revolution are slowly dying.
It was not a happy sight for the coach of the team Prakash Padukone either. He sounded morose during a brief interaction with the waiting media outside the Porte de la Chapelle arena.
Lakshya’s loss has stirred his emotions. He didn't mince his words. He said that there is no point blaming the federations, foundations or the academies. “They can only do so much,” he said. “We can provide everything we can. But ultimately players also have to take responsibility and go out there and deliver when it matters the most.
Because it’s not what we are expecting... they have beaten the same players in some other tournaments. So when it comes to the Olympics, we are not able to. We need to introspect, the players also need to introspect.”
Padukone also felt that the shuttlers have been backed in every possible way. “You cannot keep asking for more and more and more,” he said.
“You have to introspect, ‘okay, am I doing enough?’” He felt that it could be that the players are not working hard enough. “Maybe whatever they are doing is not enough to get a medal at the Olympics.” He felt the players also need to work and one cannot just expect only the coaches to work all the time.
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu lost her first knockout round match comprehensively. Favourites to win medals doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fell in the quarterfinals. Lakshya, who created history by becoming the first male player to reach the semifinals, was the lone spark.
Padukone feels it's time to pay attention when players peak. “I think maybe the players were peaking at that time (when they were winning). It's not that we could have easily got one bronze.” He conceded that the match was close. It was a question of one game, a few points. A bit of luck perhaps would have changed things.
“A combination of all the things may be. You need a little bit of luck too. You see the draw for Lakshya. He had to play tough opponents from Day One. Whereas some of the other players had easy rounds. That is not an excuse, just a fact. Lakshya had to play 5 or 6 tough matches including Jonathan Christie. You need some luck.”
Padukone felt that mind training is important. He felt it should be the focus point for India. He also highlighted the role of a psychologist especially during such a big event as the Olympics.” He felt that a strong mind perhaps led Manu Bhaker to two medals.