Unimpressed by India’s performance at the Paris Olympics, badminton legend Prakash Padukone minced no words in laying the blame on the players for lack of enough grunt to deliver at the world’s apex sporting event.
“Let’s be frank,” the badminton legend said asking the players to ‘introspect’ and ask themselves whether they are ‘doing enough’ to win a medal at the Olympics. Sounding stern, he added that the players ‘cannot keep asking for more and more and more’ and urged the government and federations to be a ‘little firm’ with those who don’t deliver.
“Maybe, you know, 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,” Padukone said after Lakshya Sen squandered an early advantage to lose his bronze-medal playoff on Monday.
India came to Paris feeling sanguine about their chances of a double-digit medal haul for the first time. But as the Olympics enters its 11th day, they stare at the embarrassment of not even matching the haul from the previous edition.
The 100-plus contingent has so far only won three medals — all of them bronze, and all in shooting. Out of those three, shooter Manu Bhaker has played a role in two, winning a medal each in the 10m air pistol individual and team events.
While shooting delivered medals after back-to-back Olympic flops, sports like badminton, where India has won a medal in each of the last three Games, and boxing, which has fetched medals in three out of the last four editions, have drawn a blank. Other heavily-funded sports, like archery, have continued to disappoint.
In touch with the ground reality, 69-year-old Padukone said it was ‘high time’ the players started taking responsibility and ‘go and deliver when it matters the most’.
“You have a full sports science support team. Each of the players has their own physios, strength-and-conditioning trainers and nutritionists. How much more can you do? I don’t think any other country… including the US and all, will have so much facilities.”
The federations, Padukone added, “need to focus more on the next line while you continue to support” (the current stars). “Like what China does. They don’t depend only on one. By the time the one top player retires, they already have 4-5 of them in each of the events, focus on them and give them all the encouragement,” he said.
After the Paris Olympics, India stares at an empty cupboard in women’s singles badminton and weightlifting, to name a couple of disciplines.
The responsibility to groom the next generation doesn’t fall on the federations alone, Padukone added. “A lot of top players have to show the way to younger gen,” he added, citing the example of how Sindhu has ‘done a lot’ for badminton; similarly others have done for shooting, wrestling and boxing.’
But for the current Olympics, he said the athletes “cannot blame the federations or the government” because “they have done whatever they can”.
The government had spent Rs 72 crore under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) during the three-year Olympic cycle from Tokyo in Covid-hit 2021 to Paris. The money was spent on customised training programmes, with the athletes getting almost everything they wanted — from a big entourage to specialised coaches to hi-tech equipment.
When asked if the players were pampered to such an extent that it affected their hunger to win, Padukone replied: “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. 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.”
Padukone said he was “not happy” with Sen’s surrender to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in his bronze-medal match after taking an early lead. “(Eventual gold medallist Viktor) Axelsen might say he is the next best. But that’s not good enough,” he added. “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.”
“Across sports, we don’t give enough attention to sports psychology, which is very important. Especially at the Olympics. (That is) One of the reasons probably why Manu Bhaker has done well despite not being a favourite.”
Ultimately, however, he held the athlete responsible. “Even the federation, the academies, can only do so much. We can provide everything we can. It’s not that we are expecting (too much)… they have beaten the same players in some other tournaments. (Only) when it comes to the Olympics, we are not able to…”
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