Lakshya Sen with Deepika Padukone© Twitter

Lakshya Sen, the rising Indian badminton star, revealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his coach, Prakash Padukone, had taken away his phone during his entire Olympic competition in Paris. PM Modi met and felicitated India’s Paris Olympics athletes on Independence Day at his residence, where Lakshya reflected on his experience at the Games and shared insights into the challenges and cherisable moments he encountered during his debut at the Games.

He revealed that he had long matches right from the start, which required intense focus. Despite the demands of the competition, athletes made time to socialise, often having dinner and meeting other international athletes. “It was a big thing to share a dining room with some of them,” Sen remarked, emphasising the meeting with other athletes.

He admitted, “As a first-time Olympian, I was nervous during my initial matches, especially with the pressure of performing in front of a massive crowd. However, as the tournament progressed, I regained confidence and settled into my game.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also acknowledged Sen’s performance, reminding him, “You are from ‘Devbhumi (Uttarakhand),’ and you are a celebrity now.” 

The Prime Minister’s words highlighted the pride of the nation in Sen’s achievements, even without a medal. In response, Sen shared a behind-the-scenes story, mentioning that coach Padukone took his phone during his matches to help him stay focused. “Prakash Sir had taken away my phone during the matches, and said you won’t get it until the matches are over,” Sen said.

Sen, made history as the first Indian shuttler to reach the semifinals in men’s badminton at the Olympics. He topped his group with victories over top players like Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie and compatriot HS Prannoy in the round of 16.

He also stunned Chou Tien-chen in the quarterfinals. But he fell short of bagging his maiden Olympics medal after losing to world no. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the semifinal.

Reflecting on the overall support he received, Sen expressed, “It was heartbreaking, coming so close to a win but falling short in the end.”

PM Modi then offered words of encouragement to a shuttler from Almora, stating, “It would have been great if you came back with a medal, but still, you played well. But, people watch with excitement, not just from abroad, but children in our country are inspired by how well you played in the Olympics.”

Sen concluded by expressing his determination to continue improving his game, practising hard, and serving as an inspiration to young badminton players in India.

Badminton legend and ace shuttler PV Sindhu’s mentor, Prakash Padukone believes that India have a strong chance of bagging three medals in badminton in the Paris Olympics including a hat-trick of medals for Sindhu. India has sent a seven-member badminton squad including the high-flying men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and double Olympic medallist Sindhu. Padukone said Sindhu is faring well for her historic third consecutive Olympic medal in Paris.

“That’s what we are trying and hoping for. She has worked incredibly hard for that. However, at this level, one cannot commit for sure. Her preparations have gone well, and she is playing well in practice sessions. So, in terms of preparations, everything has been very good,” he told JioCinema.

The veteran shuttler, a former All-England champion and World’s top player in his heydays elaborated that he is focusing on improving Sindhu’s tactics and strategy on the court and she has also improved a lot under his guidance.

“I am focusing on tactics and strategy on the court, on what strokes to use when, and a little to do with the mind. About nine months ago, she was a little low on confidence due to frequent coaching changes and not being able to identify what was going wrong.

“We’ve worked on her mental strength and strategy, ensuring she makes better use of the right strokes. We’ve tried to cut down on mistakes and playing percentage badminton — knowing when to attack, defend, and play safe. So it is finally all coming through, but it is yet to be found out whether she can reproduce that form during the Olympics,” said Padukone, who runs the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru.

Despite Sindhu failing to win any title so far this year, Padukone feels that her ability to shine in crunch situations will help India’s most successful woman sportspersons at the Olympics bring the best out of her. Sindhu is the only Indian woman sportsperson to win two Olympic medals, a silver at Rio in 2016 and a bronze in Tokyo.

“Definitely, she has not been at her best recently, this might reduce the pressure on her. Expectations are lower, and even reaching the quarterfinals will be seen positively. But I am looking beyond that. If she is able to reproduce the form, like what she’s doing in practice, I think she’ll do better than in past tournaments.

“The difference between players at the top is so little and it is also about handling pressure in the Olympics, and Sindhu has an advantage as she has won two Olympic medals. We keep reminding her to focus on her game, and the result will be good,” he said.

In the end, Padukone picked Rankireddy and Shetty in the men’s doubles, Sindhu in women’s singles and Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy in men’s singles as possible medal contenders.

“We have a chance in all three events: men’s singles, women’s singles and men’s doubles. The men’s doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been very consistent and have beaten top players. They also have a fairly good draw.

“Lakshya Sen has a tough group, but he has previously beaten his group opponents Jonatan Christie, Kevin Cordon and Julien Carraggi so it depends on his current form. It’s his first Olympics, but he shouldn’t be worrying about that and consider this as any other tournament. HS Prannoy has not been in the best form, but sometimes it could be a blessing in disguise as there is little weight of expectations and you might reach the peak now, it can go both ways.

“We are definitely contenders in these three events. Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto in women’s doubles have a challenging draw, but if they can qualify further, that will be icing on the cake,” he concluded.

Badminton matches at the Paris Olympics will begin on Saturday (July 27).

File image of Prakash Padukone.© X (Twitter)