New Delhi: Lakshya Sen’s Paris Olympics came to an end on Monday after the youngster from Almora missed the opportunity to finish on the podium. Despite a game ahead in the bronze medal match against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, Lakshya was sent packing 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 in a contest which spanned for 71 minutes.
Two defeats in two days and both of them combinedly denying the 22-year-old Indian a chance to become the first male shuttler from his country to account for a medal in the men’s singles event. There is no doubt that Lakshya and his team, which includes veteran coach Prakash Padukone, will ponder over the two defeats, which reduced the prodigious shuttler’s campaign to bog-standard despite all the limelight he allured in the last 10 days in the French capital.
Lakshya was in a commanding position in the semifinal against reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen with a 20-17 lead but squandered it to gift the Danish first game. And today against Lee, he was comfortably standing at 7-2 in the second game with a psychological advantage of already one game in his bag. In both situations, Lakshya failed to dictate the terms.
PROUD OF YOU LAKSHYA 👏
The journey till here wasn’t easy at all. Lakshya’s determination has taken him so far. Some very good wins against seeded opponents to be proud of and lots of positives to take from #Paris2024!
📸: @badmintonphoto#IndiaAtParis24#Badminton pic.twitter.com/2xExEIaCWL
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 5, 2024
Unable to close out games
For a player who is well known to win matches after dropping first games routinely, it is matter of curiosity that how does he falter in crunch moments. Is that he is not used to it? Or is it the stature of Olympics is too high for a debutant? The experience factor can always be the talking point if one wants to shield Lakshya’s inaptitude to deal with pressure. In footballing terms, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion bottled up the advantage of winning a medal.
Losing focus in crunch situations
Mental toughness, nerves of steel, running out of gas, laxity in crunch moments can all be used figuratively to write the chapter of Lakshya Sen missing out on a medal in Paris. He was seen on backfoot when all he had to do was relentlessly attack against Lee. Lee decoded the mantra of beating Lakshya was to wear and tear his spirit first and pepper smashes around his body. There were some great retrievals but then the consistency to attack just phased out in a glimpse.
Learnings from here
It’s not all over for Lakshya but here’s where a new journey can kick-off. There will be a change of guard in the Indian badminton circuit after Lakshya defeated HS Prannoy in the Round of 16 at the Summer Games. Lakshya won’t be younger when he will likely make it to the Los Angeles Games. He must take a leaf out of Viktor Axelsen’s massive rise to become the European face at the Olympics.
Axelsen defended his gold medal in Paris following straight games win over Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-11, 21-11. The Danish star had to settle with a bronze medal on his Olympics debut after losing to reigning champion Chen Long at the 2016 Rio Games before winning successive gold medals in Tokyo and Paris to match Lin Dan’s feat.
Though Lakshya hasn’t pocketed a bronze this time, he should focus more on Axelsen’s words that he will be favourite to win gold in the next edition.
akshya Sen’s Paris Olympics came to an end on Monday after the youngster from Almora missed the opportunity to finish on the podium. Despite a game ahead in the bronze medal match against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, Lakshya was sent packing 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 in a contest which spanned for 71 minutes. Badminton Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
