NEW DELHI: Following Lakshya Senโs heart-wrenching defeat in the bronze medal match on Monday, which culminated in a medal drought for Indiaโs badminton team at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Senโs coach and badminton legend Prakash Padukone offered a blunt critique. Padukone called on players to โintrospectโ and question if they were โdoing enoughโ to win an Olympic medal.
โAt least for 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 players to go and deliver when it matters the most. 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 physios and all the facilities. I donโt think any other country, including the US, has so many facilities. 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,โ Prakash Padukone commented immediately after Lakshya Sen lost an early lead to squander his bronze-medal playoff on Monday.
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Now Indian badminton player Ashwini Ponnappa, who competed in the womenโs doubles event at Paris 2024, strongly retaliated to Padukoneโs comments.
โDisappointing to see this. If a player wins, everyone jumps on the bandwagon to take credit, and if they lose, itโs just the playerโs fault?!โ Ashwini Ponnappa wrote on an Instagram story. โWhy arenโt coaches held responsible for lack of preparation and getting the player ready? They are the first ones to take credit for wins; why not take responsibility for their playersโ losses as well? At the end of the day, winning takes a team effort and losing is also the teamโs responsibility. You canโt suddenly push the player under the bus and blame it all on the player.โ
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Ponnappa, who partnered with Tanisha Crasto in the womenโs doubles competition, saw her Olympic journey end in the group stages. She announced that Paris 2024 would be her final appearance at the Olympic Games, adding a reflective tone to her response and marking the end of an era in her career.
