Ashwini Ponnappa hits out at Padukone over criticism of Lakshya Sen

Lakshya Sen's defeat to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal playoff of the Paris Olympics led to a war of words in the Indian badminton circle.

Lakshya's coach, Prakash Padukone, was very frustrated after his ward failed to win the medal.

Padukone came down heavily on Lakshya after his defeat to Lee.

"I think it is high time that players also take responsibility. At least for the results in this Olympics and the previous one, you cannot hold the federations and government responsible for the results," Padukone said after Lakshya's loss.

"They have all done whatever they can. Ultimately the responsibility is on the players to go and deliver when it matters the most," Padukone added.

Lakshya won the first game rather comfortably but suffered defeats in the subsequent two games despite looking very much in control in the match.

Pressure seemed to have gotten to Lakshya, and he couldn't handle his nerves which ultimately led to him losing out on what would have been India's first badminton Olympic medal in the men's category.

This will be the first time in 16 years that India will return from the Olympics without a medal in badminton.

"Vimal and I are not happy with the fourth position of Lakshya. He could have definitely gotten a medal. Had he lost comfortably, it would have been a different issue. But to have come this far, to have taken the lead, I know he is young, but he cannot give this as an excuse. Take responsibility and work harder," Padukone added further.

Responding to Padukone's criticism of Lakshya, Indian women's doubles player Ashwini Ponnappa took to social media to share her disapproval of Padukone's response saying it is not right to throw players under the bus.

"At the end of the day, winning takes a team effort and losing is also the team's responsibility. (You) can't suddenly push the player under the bus and blame it all on the player," Ponnappa said.

As with everything, netizens have jumped on the issue and the reactions appear to be a mixed bag of support for Padukone's statements and criticism against it.

Jwala Gutta, India's former badminton player was in total disagreement with Ponnappa's statements.

Another social media user was also in strong support of the legendary shuttler, sharing that Padukone has every right to criticize the players.

Here is another user defending Padukone's words by providing a perspective.

However, not all of them share that viewpoint. Many felt Padukone was too harsh on Lakshya Sen and that he supposedly threw him 'under the bus' by calling him out publicly.

Some felt that although the statement carried merit, it was perhaps not the best of time to say such things.