It's been over 20 days, but Lakshya Sen is still hurting from his back-to-back defeats in the men's badminton event of the Paris Olympics 2024. Lakshya, India's last hope in badminton after PV Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and HS Prannoy were all eliminated, had two chances of winning a medal, in the semifinal against Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and then against Malaysia's Lee Zee Jia in the bronze-medal shootout. However, in both games, Lakshya came up just a little short and had to return home empty handed. No male shutter has won a medal for India at the Olympics, a fact Lakshya unfortunately couldn't change.

Recalling the result, Lakshya, still stinging from the outcome, continues to cope with the disappointment of coming so near, yet so far. He was in impeccable form coming into and during the Olympics. Despite getting his win against Kevin Cordon 'deleted' due to the Guatemalan shuttler's withdrawal due to injury, Lakshya steamrolled opponents Julien Carraggi, Jonatan Christie, Prannoy and Chou Tien-Chen to reach the semi-final. But against Axelsen, Lakshya squandered three game points in the first duel and then gave away a 7-point lead in the second. Against Lee, a similar script unfolded as Lakshya, from being 1-0 up, went down 1-2 as India's badminton campaign ended in a disappointing note.

"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.

Deepika Padukone's touching gesture

After the loss, Lakshya's coach Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar did not hold back in their criticism, holding the shuttlers responsible for the ending of India's 12-year-medal-winning streak at the Olympics. As Lakshya later revealed, his coach had even taken his phone away during the Games, but he received nothing but warmth from his daughter, Deepika Padukone. The actor reached out to Lakshya after his bronze medal match and comforted him through her words.

"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.

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