 "Ashwini Ponnappa has slammed Prakash Padukone over his criticism of Indian shuttlers after a disappointing Olympics campaign in Paris. Reuters")
Senior badminton player Ashwini Ponnappa has hit out at the legendary Prakash Padukone following the latter’s comments that Indian shuttlers needed to take more “responsibility and accountability”. Padukone’s comments on Monday came after Lakshya Sen lost to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics despite winning the first game. The defeat for Lakshya ended India’s badminton campaign at the Olympics.
“Disappointing to see this. If a player wins, everyone jumps on the bandwagon to take credit, and if they lose, it’s just the player’s fault?!” wrote Ponnappa on her Instagram story.
“Why aren’t coaches held responsible for lack of preparation and getting the player ready? They are the first ones to take credit for wins; why not take responsibility for their players’ losses as well? At the end of the day, winning takes team effort and losing is also the team’s responsibility. You can’t suddenly push the player under the bus and blame it all on the player,” she added.
Padukone, a former All-England champion stressed on the need of providing athletes with mind training so that they could handle pressure situations well. Padukone gave China’s example where they do not rely on just one player but churn out players at multiple levels.
He also gave an example of cricket, where there are different levels and teams like the senior national team and the “A” team. “We cannot remain satisfied just having one player. We need to focus on the next line, maybe even the third line. Like they do in cricket. You have the main team, then the ‘A’ team, then the under-19 team, under-17 team. So we need to focus. There is a lot of talent, there is absolutely no doubt but a combined effort is required,” Padukone told reporters.
“And a little bit of effort from the players also. A little more responsibility, a little more accountability. Not just ask for whatever you ask for. Once you are given that, you also have to be accountable. I think the players have to learn to take responsibility,” added the 69 year-old.
After winning the first game 21-13, Sen took an 8-3 lead in the second game against Lee, but squandered that as he went onto lose the match 21-13, 16-21, 11-21. Padukone analysed where the youngster needs to improve.
“He needs to work a little bit, when he’s playing with the wind. Everybody has a problem but I think he has more problem than others. If you saw the first game, the Malaysian played a lot of them and went out. You were not able to control so it happens but you must learn to control and make less mistakes,” he said.
“Mistakes will happen, everybody is comfortable playing against the wind because you can play freely without any hesitation but Lakshya probably needs both. A little bit of mind training and the focus on mind training plus a little bit of practice and a little better control he needs to work on the court as well,” continued the two-time Asian Games medallist.
Paddukone felt that match pressure got the better of Sen against Lee, who launched some powerful smashes.
“Earlier we were not even getting to number four. One thing is very clear, we need to focus more on mind training. We don’t give enough attention for sports psychology which is very important,” he said.
“It’s high time we have foreign sports psychologists also. This is not to take away anything from the Indian sports psychologist. Some of them are good but I think high time you know the players also realise the importance of sports psychology,” he continued.
“It cannot be done just three months before the Olympics or if somebody wants to do well in the next Olympics they have to start right now and be at it throughout only then will it make a difference,” added Padukone.