Rohit Sharma's praises for Lakshya Sen overshadowed by criticism from Gavaskar; Deepika Padukone receives support

Former India cricket team captain Sunil Gavaskar has shown his support for badminton legend Prakash Padukone's recent comments about the responsibility of players in the wake of India's disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics. Padukone raised concerns after India failed to secure a single Olympic medal in badminton for the first time since 2008. His remarks were prompted by Lakshya Sen's missed chances to make history at the Paris Games, where he fell short in two consecutive opportunities.

Lakshya stood on the verge of becoming the first-ever Indian male shuttler to bag an Olympic medal after he made semis, where he soared to a seven-point lead, before losing against eventual gold medallist Viktor Axelsen. On the next day, in the bronze-medal face-off against Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia, Lakshya won the opening game and took an 8-3 lead in the second before losing 21-13, 16-21, 11-21.

Following the loss, Padukone was left fuming during a press interaction where he said that it's time for players to be held accountable for not delivering results after being given all the support from the government to prepare for the Olympics. While the remark did not sit well with fellow shuttlers like Ashwini Ponnappa, who slammed Padukone for throwing Lakshya under the bus, but the latter found support from Gavaskar, who took at dig at the Indian contingent for making excuses and reckoned that they would have rather won a gold medal had it been a discipline at the Olympics.

"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. It also stirred up a debate where the majority tried, as is the modern way, to take the side of a current would-be champion and not that of a past-proven world champion. 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," he wrote his column for Sportstar.

"And what did he say? He said that the players today get all the backing and facilities from their Federations and the government too. Therefore, they should take responsibility for their performances too. It was a point well-made and well-articulated too, without pointing fingers at anybody. Yet as it invariably happens in our country, which again is a champion at reading between so-called lines and imagining unintended poisoned arrows, we were quick to jump on him and denounce his comments rather than take the time to digest them and then come out with our comparatively uninformed views. If a player is not going to take responsibility for his performance, then who is? So what wrong did he say? Some say the timing was wrong, but it’s always better to say that when a player is searching for excuses and support rather than later. Yes, he could have said that privately in the changing room, but believe me, nothing has more impact on a player than a public rebuke. If he has the heart of a champion, then he will want to make the person who rebuked him eat his words. Otherwise, he will continue to flatter only to deceive."

Lakshya Sen was ‘garden mein ghoomne wala’

Gavaskar then channelled his inner Rohit Sharma to put into words Lakshya's performance in the aforementioned two matches at the Paris Olympics.

"To then see a 20-17 and 7-0 lead being squandered off in the semifinal and then lose the bronze medal match after winning the first game comfortably must have been gut-wrenching indeed. 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, “ garden mein ghoomne wala.”

For those who watched both the semifinal and the bronze medal matches, it did appear that Lakshya had lost his trend of thought and concentration in the way he looked at his racquet as he sipped from his water bottle in between points or at the changeovers. I could be completely wrong, but on TV, it looked like a blank expression, and that’s usually a sign that the mind has wandered. Concentration and focus are things that no coach or trainer can ever teach. It can be developed over the years by the athlete by observing other champions and having an inner resolve, but there’s no specific programme for it. Yes, mind trainers are around, but they can only do so much and not more. It’s got to be within the athlete," he added.

This was the first time in 16 years that India did not win a medal in badminton at the Olympics. Earlier, double-Olympic medallist PV Sindhu suffered shocking exit in the pre-quarters, while the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the Asian Games champions, who were touted for the gold, were stunned in the quarters. Meanwhile, Lakshya defeated HS Prannoy in the round of 16 and the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto suffered a group-stage exit.

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