Lakshya Sen narrowly missed out a history medal at the Paris Olympics.
The 22 year old from Almora squandered comfortable lead in both games to suffer a heartbreaking semi-final loss to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, who went to claim his second successive gold.
In the bronze medal match too, the nerves got better of Lakshya, who after winning the first game, succumbed to pressure as he went down against Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in a thrilling encounter.
Lakshya revealed that Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone, badminton great Prakash Padukone's elder daughter, called him to offer support after the bronze medal loss.
'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,' Lakshya said in a chat with Humans of Bombay.
Deepika, who is due to welcome her first child in September, also dined with Lakshya on his return to Mumbai after the Paris Games.
Her husband Ranveer Singh praised Lakshya on social media for his performance.
'What a player! What endurance, what agility, what a range of shots, what focus, what grit, what smarts. Scintillating badminton on display! It's difficult to encapsulate just how brilliant he's been at the Olympics. Missed out narrowly in a game of extremely small margins. But he's only 22 and he is just getting started,' Ranveer exclaimed.
Deepika's father Prakash Padukone, the first Indian to win the All England badminton title, was a mentor for the Indian badminton contingent at the Olympics.
