It is galling for the Indian badminton lover to try and digest the fact that Lakshya Sen flattered to deceive, and was instrumental in India’s ending its badminton campaign in the 2024 Paris Olympics without a medal.

Sen off the boil 

Sitting pretty at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena with a game in the bag, and a more than handy lead of 8-3 in the second game of his Olympic bronze medal play-off duel with Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, the 22-year-old Indian suddenly went off the boil, and simply could not recover his mojo, to succumb to a 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 defeat in 71 minutes.