Sunil Gavaskar rips into Lakshya Sen, backs Prakash Padukone’s comment, ‘No coach can ever teach’

India's Olympic tally suffered a major setback in Paris this year as the country's badminton contingent failed to win a single medal for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the wake of the Indian shuttlers' lacklustre performance, badminton legend Prakash Padukone had taken a tough stance, saying it was high time the players learnt to withstand pressure, take responsibility and deliver results as they were receiving significant support from the government.

Padukone's comments came after one of his students, Lakshya Sen, suffered two heartbreaking defeats to Viktor Axelsen (semi-final) and Zii Jia (bronze-medal match), despite being in an advantageous position at the start in both encounters. The legendary shuttler's comments had also upset some people, with doubles player Ashwini Ponnappa categorically stating that Padukone's comments were akin to "throwing players under the bus".

Now Padukone has received support from former Indian cricket captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar, who called the 68-year-old "finest sportsperson that India has produced". Gavaskar wrote a column for Sportstar in which he shared his thoughts on Padukone's comments and Lakshya Sen's performance in the two matches.

Sunil Gavaskar rips into Lakshya Sen, backs Padukone: 

Backing Padukone's comments about taking responsibility, Gavaskar said, "If a player is not going to take responsibility for his performance, then who is? So what wrong did he say? Some say the timing was wrong, but it's always better to say that when a player is searching for excuses and support rather than later. Yes, he could have said that privately in the changing room, but believe me, nothing has more impact on a player than a public rebuke. If he has the heart of a champion, then he will want to make the person who rebuked him eat his words. Otherwise, he will continue to flatter only to deceive,"

“For those who watched both the semifinal and the bronze medal matches, it did appear that Lakshya had lost his trend of thought and concentration in the way he looked at his racquet as he sipped from his water bottle in between points or at the changeovers… Concentration and focus are things that no coach or trainer can ever teach. It can be developed over the years by the athlete by observing other champions and having an inner resolve, but there's no specific programme for it.” Gavaskar added in his column