Paris diary: Padukone Padukone tears into Lakshya Sen, others

Padukone tears into Sen, others

Prakash Padukone, the 69-year-old badminton legend from Bengaluru, generally keeps it cool, but after watching Lakshya Sen lose from winning positions twice on two days, he could not restrain himself. “Maybe the players are not working hard enough. Maybe it is not enough to get a medal at the Olympics. So you (players) need to work also,” he said. Padukone, who saw Sen’s two meltdowns — in the semifinals and then the bronze medal playoff, from the coach’s chair at the end of the court — said he was left “not happy” with the performance. “Viktor Axelsen might say he (Sen) is the next best. But that’s not good enough,” Padukone said. “Of course he’s still young. He must realise it himself and not give it as an excuse. In terms of facilities, nobody can do anything more.” Padukone agreed that the younger players may be pampered a bit too much. “Maybe, to some extent. That (pampering) is also required. I hope the players also realise when you ask for certain things, they also need to deliver,” the former All England champion, who runs a coaching academy in Bengaluru, said: “If they don’t deliver, then I think you need to be a little firm. Maybe the federation or the government can be. Let’s be frank.”

Nisha’s pain

Nisha Dahiya’s Olympics ended in pain, body and soul, when she lost her women’s 68kg quarterfinal bout from a winning position. The 25-year-old from Adiyan village, Panipat, led 8-1 before losing 8-10 to 18-year-old Pak Sol Gum of North Korea. Nisha, who was sent back to India today, started very strongly but was forced to take medical timeouts due to injuries in her hand and shoulder. India coach Virender Dahiya today said that it needed Vinesh Phogat’s performance today to lift the spirits in the Indian camp. “We were very sad yesterday and the wrestlers and coaches could not sleep properly,” he said. “Nisha was in pain. Today, Vinesh managed to bring cheer to our camp.” Coach Dahiya added that Pak deliberately caused the injury to Nisha. “It was deliberate, Pak hurt her intentionally. There was an instruction from the Korean corner for it. She attacked Nisha’s arm, shoulder joint.” Nisha, incidentally, was in the news in November 2021 when another wrestler named Nisha was killed by her coach. “It was like any other competition day when all of a sudden the news of my murder began spreading like wildfire,” Nisha said then. Nisha lives on in hope, wishing to fight on. — Rohit Mahajan