Paris Olympics 2024 Badminton: Why Prakash Padukone losing his cool on Indian shuttlers was crazy

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There is a dangerous rivalry out there in Indian badminton, and it has nothing to do with results on the court. On Monday (August 5), legend Prakash Padukone came out to face the media and lashed out at Lakshya Sen for losing the semi-final match at the Paris Olympics.

Lakshya had scripted history by becoming the first man to make it so far in the Olympics. Yes, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu won Olympic medals, but no man had come this far.

Prakash is a thorough gentleman. For him to have a mental meltdown and slam his athlete was bizarre. It is understandable two of his proteges, PV Sindhu and Lakshya did not win a medal.

Would he have dared to slam Sindhu? No way, for Sindhu, is a celebrity and still has a massive following. She was not able to win a hat-trick of Olympic medals and that's accepted she has been decoded. Prakash never said a word about her nastily in the public domain.

Social media is full of comments for and against Prakash. At this stage in his life, when he is a mentor and also heads s sports NGO, he needs to measure his words. Short of hinting Lakshya was a disaster, these comments cannot come from an All-England champion.

Yes, Prakash had every right to speak with Lakshya in private and motivate him. No, the unthinkable has been done and Lakshya will be left scarred. He did not come to meet the media on Monday, and that's reason to suggest he is shattered.

How Lakshya will cope with the loss and be slammed by Prakash, none knows. Maybe in hockey in the good old days, coaches would not hesitate to use foul language. You cannot do it with this generation of kids.

Back to the failed Indian badminton campaign in Paris 2024, Pullela Gopichand has been quiet. His favourite HS Prannoy lost to Lakshya and the doubles campaign of Satwik-Chirag also bombed at the box office.

Gopi has done his bit for Indian badminton as a player and a coach. But he knows, zero medals from Paris 2024 is a shame. How is he going to handle the press, the SAI and the Government of India?

Gopi is a coach, runs the high-performance centre in Gacchibowli in Hyderabad and is also an official in the Badminton Association of India. There are a lot of undercurrents and power centres in Indian badminton. President Himanta Biswa Sharma has also set up an academy in Assam and has his own coaches.

By the 2026 Asian Games, one does not know who will be India's star singles player in women's singles. The cupboard is bare and both Gopi and Prakash know it. Lakshya is a big hope but for a nation which won three medals in the Olympics, suddenly there is a drought. Where will the next champion emerge from is a question asked.

In the coming days, there will be introspection as well as post-mortems into the failed badminton campaign. If Prakash Padukone has said so much in the public domain, the panic button has been pressed. At the same time, Vimal Kumar, who coaches at the Padukone academy does not have too many youngsters who will become champions overnight.

All of a sudden, Indian badminton is staring at the wall. It's blank. Is that the reason why Prakash lost his cool?