Sen’s Paris show disappoints cricket great Sunny

Sunil Gavaskar (left), Chairman of PMG and Trustee of Champs Foundation with Harshveer Singh Saluja, Regional Director of APAC at SPARTAN Race Inc during the launch of TVS Apache SPARTAN at MCA Bandra Club, Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai on Wednesday (Pic/SATEJ SHINDE)

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, a keen badminton player too, admitted that he was a little disappointed the way India's promising shuttler Lakshya Sen lost his Paris Olympics semi-final to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen and the bronze medal match to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia.

"I was a bit disappointed because on both days, Lakshya had taken the lead but could not sustain it. We need to look at whether it's more of a mental issue. Even Prakash [Padukone] said he did not know why Lakshya lost.

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"Sometimes, it happens to all of us in our everyday life where you lose the trend of thought. Even while playing, you can lose that trend of thought and in a fast game like badminton, if you lose for a fraction of a section, the opponent fights back," Gavaskar explained.

Sen was not spared by Padukone who was on the sidelines at the game. He told the media: "I know (Viktor) Axelsen might say that Lakshya is the next best, but that is not good enough because there was a possibility of a medal."