Lakshya Sen’s heartbreaking loss to Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal match in the 2024 Paris Olympics has confirmed the Indian badminton contingent’s failure to win a medal at the Games. Following the loss, India’s badminton legend Prakash Padukone, the coach and mentor of the team, stated that it was ‘high time the players step up and win.’

“All the support and finances needed to perform at the top level were given to the Indian players. It’s not like earlier times when our players lacked facilities and funds. So, it’s high time our players step up and win as expected,” Padukone told reporters after Lakshya Sen’s match.

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Besides Sen’s impressive performance, which saw him become the first Indian shuttler to reach the semifinals of the men’s singles event, the rest exited the tournament in an underwhelming fashion.

P.V. Sindhu lost to China’s He Bing Jiao in the Round of 16 in the women’s singles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost to Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the men’s doubles quarterfinals. H.S. Prannoy was eliminated by Lakshya Sen in the Round of 16 whereas Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto did not even make it out of the Group Stage in the women’s doubles event.

“I am a little disappointed in our performance that we could not even get a single medal from Badminton. Like I have said before, we were contenders for three medals so at least one would have made me happy. But having said this, this time the Government, Sports Authority of India, and Sports Ministry everybody has done their best and I don’t think anyone could have done anything more than what the Government has done so I think the players also need to take responsibility,” added the veteran.

Lakshya Sen strongly started off the game and claimed a comfortable 21-13 win in the first game. The second game saw Lakshya get off to a strong start but a late charge by Lee Zii Jia saw him take a solid 12-8 lead.

The Indian shuttler went off the boil and this saw the Malaysian seal tie the game 1-1 with a 16-21 victory in the second game. Sen was not able to get back into the game and was dominated in the final match as he lost 11-21 to end his campaign.

Padukone credited Sen’s loss to the Indian shuttler being ‘uncomfortable’ playing on the faster side of the court’.

“He played well but of course, I am a little disappointed, he could not finish it yesterday too, he was in a winning position in the first game, and could have probably made a difference yesterday itself. After winning the first game he was leading 8-3 today, he has always been a little uncomfortable playing on the faster side so he has to work on that,” concluded Padukone.