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India’s latest badminton hero Lakshya Sen revealed a heartwarming gesture by Bollywood icon Deepika Padukone after his loss in the Paris Olympics 2024. Sen, who emerged as India’s latest sporting sensation came close to winning a medal at the 2024 games, in the semifinal against Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and against Malaysia’s Lee Zee Jia in the bronze-medal match. However, in both games Sen fell short and had to return home without any medal.
Recently, Sen appeared on the Humans of Bombay podcast, where he said that he is still disappointed about the outcome as he was in impeccable form during the Olympics. He said, “After the match, I was devastated. It’s going to hurt for a while that I couldn’t give India the medal at this Olympics. I knew I was going to face Viktor Axelsen in the match and, the way I had prepared, things were fine. Overall, I had the right tactics. I had the right approach.”
He added, “At the crucial stages I could have been a little more clinical. Now that I sit back and think, I know there are some things that I could have done better. Everything was fine, but towards the end, I wasn’t able to get there.” Sen went on to reveal that he received nothing but warmth from Bollywood actor and his coach Prakash Padukone’s daughter, Deepika Padukone. The young shuttler added that Deepika reached out to Sen after his bronze medal match and comforted through her words.
Sen said, “They have been really supportive. Even after the bronze medal match, she called me and said, ‘It’s fine, don’t worry. You did good.’ Prakash Sir has been like a mentor and father figure to me. It’s always nice to talk to them if I want any advice or want to talk to them freely.”
Notably, during the Paris Olympics 2024, the Almora-born defeated Kevin Cordon, Julien Carraggi, Jonatan Christie, HS Prannoy and Chou Tien-Chen to reach the semi-final.
