India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently met with the entire Indian contingent that participated in the recently concluded Paris Olympics 2024. In the presence of Minister of Labour and Employment, Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya and Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha, the Prime Minister spoke to the athletes.
One of them was Lakshya Sen who was heavily criticised by his mentor Prakash Padukone after his loss to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match.
Speaking to the Prime Minister, Sen started off with his experience at his debut Olympics campaign. He said (via nnis Sports on X):
"The matches were long from the very first day. My focus was always on the matches. Whenever we had free time we went for dinner together. We met many athletes there from whom we learnt a lot, we also shared a dining room with them which is a big thing. The atmosphere was also good. This was my first Olympics and my experience was very good. Like, the crowd inside such a big stadium made me nervous for the first two matches. But gradually, I got adapted."
His bashing from Prakash Padukone went viral on the internet as the Indian badminton legend demanded proper introspection of the athletes' performance since they lost to opponents whom they had previously defeated in other competitions.
Lakshya Sen, however, has huge respect for Padukone and has taken the learnings from the latter during the Olympics. He also shared a bit of the strictness Padukone showed:
"Prakash sir used to take away my phone during matches. He told me until the match ends I won't get my phone. My learning experience was good but it was also heartbreaking since I lost out at the last moment. I will do better next time."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was humorous enough to assure Lakshya Sen that Padukone will be assisting him in the next Olympic Games too.
He stated (while laughing):
"I will send Prakash Sir next time too since he is so disciplined."
Lakshya Sen wants to be an inspiration
Lakshya Sen who almost fetched himself and the nation a bronze medal at the Olympics, that too in his maiden campaign, wants to act as an inspiration to the younger generation.
He concluded his chat by saying:
"There were some shots which became famous. I would want to inspire the young kids and keep playing like this."
Lakshya Sen, who dominated most of his matches and earned praise from gold medalist Viktor Axelsen, will now be aiming to do well in the upcoming competitions.