Lakshya Sen's debut Olympics journey came to an end in the most heartbreaking of places - finishing fourth after losing the bronze medal match. This also brought an end to Indian badminton's streak of Olympic medals stretching back to London 2012.
The 22-year-old Indian went down 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match, squandering a lead of a game and five points. It was a breakdown under pressure as he visibly unravelled against an opponent on whom he held a positive 4-1 record.
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After a path-breaking campaign in Paris, where Lakshya knocked out higher-ranked opponents as an unseeded player and was a win away from a historic medal, to end up with nothing is an unimaginably difficult position to be in.
Make that two losses on consecutive days from advantageous positions after coming so close and it tells of a fundamental problem.
This isn't the first time he has been let down by his instinct and mentality under the pump. But this also gives him an opportunity to build for the future.
As eventual gold medallist Viktor Axelsen said after their semifinal, Lakshya has the potential to be a genuine contender for the next Olympics gold -- once he gets enough experience of being in such situations.
"He has shown in this Olympics that he is a very, very strong competitor and I am sure in four years from now, he will be one of the favourites to win the gold," Axelsen. "Lakshya thought a lot about it. It was a big thing for him obviously, I know what the rings does to your mind."
That pressure is evidently what got to Lakshya.
The Indian was still processing the result when he spoke right after the match, his eyes almost glazed over as in the final stages of the match against Lee where the pressure of the situation got to him.
On the face of it, there are very few positives to take home from these two days.
He had three game points and a lead of 7-0 against the best player in the world. He had the first game and a 5-point advantage against a player he has lost only once to before. He lost both when the enormity of the situation kicked in. In the same spot before, he had raised his game on a court he had spent the most time in. This time, he lost his bearings and made several line misjudgements and unforced errors.
But there are some positives from the matches before.
He came out of the group that has third seed Jonatan Christie, he beat compatriot HS Prannoy and won a tough quarterfinal against Chou Tien Chen playing one of the highest quality matches he has in his young career.
He exhibited the same quality at the start of his next two matches, but he couldn't close out when things mattered, and this will be the thought that will haunt him for a while to come.
Where does he go from here? How does he look back on his Paris sojourn?
There is the white, the black and the grey. The ability to be among the best, the absolute collapse under pressure and the grey matter needed to get over that obvious weakness.
First, he has to regroup and then comes the introspection and the mental work. Physically, he is at the peak of his game but it's the intangibles of emotions that he has to work on.
Lakshya is not a stranger to turning around from rock-bottom confidence. Around this time last year, he went through a rough patch which continued till the start of this years. He lost to virtual unknowns on the national circuit and had seven-straight first-round exits on the BWF Tour. His childhood coach Vimal Kumar said it was a purely mental crisis as he was physically fit. He had to pull himself out of the depths of his confidence crisis.
He split from his coach Anup Sridhar, got Vimal back on the road, along with mentor Prakash Padukone, and incredibly turned around a corner to qualify for the Olympics in one of the final legs of the Race to Paris. With some help from mental coach Paddy Upton, who famously was with the Indian cricket team during the 2011 World Cup win.
Lakshya will have to now go back to that template, perhaps get more sessions with Upton, who is currently with the Indian hockey team in Paris, and form scar tissue over the very fresh wound.
Badminton is a sport that happens week in and week out, which gives him plenty of time to get in the match time and recover from this. Lakshya has never lacked talent but it's the temperament that is missing. And that will only come in with more consistency on the BWF Tour.
He needs to put himself in big finals again, and win them. He has plenty of big wins - over almost every top player - in his short career but it's the titles he should target next. The Commonwealth gold and India Open as a Super 500 can't be his biggest wins as he goes into the next Olympic cycle.
If he can do that, then with his potential and physicality, he can fulfil two-time reigning Olympic champion Axelsen's prophecy and be one to watch out for at Los Angeles 2028.