"It Will Be Unfair To...": Tejaswin Shankar's Blunt Take On Prakash Padukone's Criticism Of Lakshya Sen

The Paris Olympics 2024 are creating new headlines everyday. From wrestler Vinesh Phogat's heartbreaking disqualification to athlete Neeraj Chopra's silver medal win at men's javelin throw, this edition of the Olympics will be remembered for many years to come. Currently, India have clinched five medals, including four bronze and one silver. India missed out on a big opportunity of clinching a medal in wrestling as Vinesh was disqualified was women's 50kg freestyle wrestling final, as he was 100gms overweight. Apart from this, India shuttler Lakshya Sen, who was looking like a strong medal-contender, also lost the bronze medal match. 

Before Lakshya, the entire badminton team of India had bowed out of the tournament and India remained medal-less in the sport. After Lakshya's loss, coach and former badminton player Prakash Padukone was critical about the result and asked the player's to come forward and take responsibility of the loss. 

This statement by Prakash garnered mixed response from everyone as many players criticised the coach for throwing Lakshya under the bus. However, Tejaswin Shankar, who is an Olympics Expert, JioCinema & Sports18, has a completely different take on it. 

"There are two things to this. I feel like what Prakash (Padukone) sir has said, he is the only person who can make that statement because he is invested with Lakshya Sen. He trains under him and Prakash sir has seen Lakshya grow and been with him through thick and thin. He has also seen him compete in the entire tournament and enter the semi-finals. So, he has the right to say all those things," Tejaswin told NDTV.

"But on the other hand, I feel it's a very debatable topic. From my opinion, I am just an audience, who has who knowledge about badminton. I have nothing to do with Lakshya's performance or his coaching and he has achieved everything on his own merit. For me, it will be unfair to say that he should have done better because I am an athlete myself and I can't say that it's the player's fault. So, it's something I can't say. I just want to say that he did perform really well in the entire tournament," he added. 

Earlier, Indian shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa, a part of India's badminton contingent in the 2024 Olympics, expressed displeasure over Padukone blaming Lakshya.

"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 had written in an Instagram story.

"Why aren't 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 players' losses as well? At the end of the day, winning takes team effort and losing is also the team's responsibility. You can't suddenly push the player under the bus and blame it all on the player," she added.