‘She Called After Bronze Medal Match…’, Lakshya Sen Reveals How Deepika Padukone Comforted Him After Paris Olympics 2024 Loss

New Delhi: Lakshya Sen missed his chance to clinch an Olympic medal at the Paris Olympics 2024, and the sting of back-to-back defeats still lingers. As India’s final hope in badminton after the eliminations of PV Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, and HS Prannoy, Lakshya had two opportunities to secure a medal. He faced Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the semifinal and Malaysia’s Lee Zee Jia in the bronze-medal match. Unfortunately, Lakshya came up just short in both, leaving him without a medal and prolonging India’s wait for its first male Olympic badminton champion.

Looking back at the result, Lakshya Sen still can’t digest the disappointment of coming so near yet so far from his first Olympic medal. He had entered the Paris Olympics in sizzling form and continued his domination through the event, with the formality of his victory against Kevin Cordon being scrubbed off due to the Guatemalan’s injury withdrawal. Lakshya had breezed past Julien Carraggi, Jonatan Christie, Prannoy, and Chou Tien-Chen en route to the last four stage. However, he messed it up against Viktor Axelsen, blowing three game points in the first set and squandering a 7-point lead in the second. The same storyline was repeated in the bronze-medal contest against Lee Zee Jia as Lakshya, having won the first game, lost 1-2 to bring the Indian badminton campaign to a tame close.

“After the match, I was devastated. It’s going to hurt for a while that I couldn’t give India the medal at this Olympics. I knew I was going to face Viktor Axelsen in the match and the way I had prepared, things were fine. Overall, I had the right tactics. I had the right approach. At the crucial stages I could have been a little more clinical. Now that I sit back and think, I know there are some things that I could have done better. Everything was fine, but towards the end, I wasn’t able to get there,” Lakshya said in a chat with Humans of Bombay.

Following the defeat, Lakshya Sen faced sharp criticism from his coaches, Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar, who placed the responsibility on the shuttlers for ending India’s 12-year Olympic medal streak in badminton. Lakshya later shared that his coach had even confiscated his phone during the Games to help him stay focused. However, despite the tough love from his mentors, Lakshya found solace in the support of Deepika Padukone. The actor, Prakash Padukone’s daughter, reached out to Lakshya after his bronze-medal match, offering comforting words to help him cope with the heartbreak.

“They have been really supportive. Even after the bronze medal match, she called me and said ‘It’s fine; don’t worry. You did good.’ Prakash sir has been like a mentor and father figure to me. It’s always nice to talk to them if I want any advice or want to talk to them freely.