New Delhi: Indian badminton was set on course to become one of the powerhouses in Asia that could compete with the likes of China, Japan and Indonesia. With a good crop of players like Lakshya Sen, Satwik/Chirag, Ashwini/Tanisha things were looking promising for Indian badminton. Badminton as a sport was also becoming popular in India with all these players becoming household names. Be it Satwik/Chirag who have been called the Baddie boys or Ashwini/Tanisha who have been called AshTan.
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However, just as things were coming out positively in favour of Indian badminton, an abysmal Olympic performance put on the brakes once again on Indian badminton. After the Tokyo spectacle, the Indian sporting contingent was to come with an even bigger overhaul of medals. But, the country could only register 6 medals against its name and that too without any gold. The more concerning signs are that the Indian shuttling fraternity has been equipped with the latest infrastructure and was not able to chip out any medal. This was the first time since 2012 that Indian shuttlers have returned empty-handed from the Olympics.
As a result of this dismal performance, finger-pointing has once again started against each other. The final melting point during the semifinals and bronze medal matches of Lakshya Sen where the young Indian shuttler managed to blow off an easy win. Lakshya was the first Indian individual shuttler to reach the semifinals of an Olympic event and could have become a medalist. But the young shuttler succumbed to pressure and blew off a healthy lead to concede defeat to Viktor Axelsen.
While many have supported the young Indian shuttler, Prakash found support from a different sporting fraternity. India’s legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar has come out and quoted his discussion with Padukone that he had in the past “As far as 2017/18, Prakash…had told me about this kid, Lakshya Sen…”
Did Prakash Padukone threw Lakshya Sen “under the bus”?
In this battle of opinions, Ashwini Ponappa has come out with some strong statements which point towards ‘foul play’ on the part of Prakash Padukone. According to Ponappa, blaming Lakshya at the last moment was a very convenient way of “throwing him under the bus.”
But was Prakash Padukone right when he hurled out such a raw criticism?
According to Gavaskar, Prakash was right in his observations as he remarked, “If a player is not going to take responsibility for his performance, then who is? So what wrong did he say?…” To lose a match from 20-17 with a 7-0 lead in the second set definitely adds fire to the fuel. Now the only thing that remains to be seen is how this fire between players and staff is doused off.
