File photo of Prakash Padukone.© X (Twitter)
In a viral rant, Prakash Padukone, the coach of the Indian badminton contingent at the Paris Olympics 2024, stated that it was "high time the players step up and win". Padukone's remarks came after Lakshya Sen lost the men's bronze medal match to Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, which ended India's hopes of clinching a badminton medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. Lakshya's defeat came after the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, one of the favourites to win a medal, also crashed out in the quarterfinals.
Padukone stated that players should also take some responsibility. "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.
Veteran shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa had issued a strong response to Padukone, saying that he shouldn't have thrown the players under the bus.
"Disappointing to see this. If a player wins, everyone jumps on the bandwagon to take credit, and if they lose, it's just the player's fault?!" Ponnappa wrote in an Instagram story.
Was Prakash Padukone's Outrage Justified?
Padukone's rant had the internet divided. Some suggested that the former Indian shuttler did the right thing, saying that the players should indeed take the responsibility.
Meanwhile, others claimed that throwing players under the bus wasn't the smartest thing he ever did.
However, criticising Padukone for his remarks isn't really justified either, especially considering that whatever he said was somewhat true.
Satwiksairag and Chirag were a game up against Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Woo Yik in the men's double quarterfinals.
However, the former world no. 1 pair squandered the advantage to make a shock exit from the men's doubles draw.
Similarly, Lakshya Sen was in a commanding position in both, the semi-final against eventual champion Viktor Axelsen as well as the bronze medal clash against Lee.
He narrowly lost the first game to Axelsen, and led 7-0 at one point in the second game. However, some poor decision-making cost him the match.
He also won the game of the bronze medal match, before throwing the tie away in a similar fashion.
Looking at the above arguments, it is fair to say that the shuttler should indeed "pull up their socks".