Prakash Padukone

Prakash Padukone
Padukone at the Tata Open championship
Personal information
Birth name Prakash Padukone
Country India
Born (1955-06-10) 10 June 1955
Bangalore, Mysore State, India
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Handedness Right
Men's singles
Highest ranking 1[1] (1980)

Prakash Padukone (born 10 June 1955) is a former Indian badminton player. He was ranked World No. 1 in 1980, the same year he became the first Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships. He was awarded the Arjuna award in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982 by the Government of India. He is one of the co-founders of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Olympic sports in India.

Background and early life

Padukone was born on 10 June 1955[3] in Bangalore, Karnataka. His surname is the name of the village Padukone, from where his family originates.

Padukone married Ujjwala, a match arranged by their parents in the Indian Hindu system. They have two daughters, Deepika Padukone, a Bollywood actress and one of the highest paid actors of India, and Anisha Padukone, a golfer.[4] Padukone, his wife and younger daughter Anisha reside in Bangalore, whereas Deepika lives and works in Mumbai.

Prakash Padukone's life story is chronicled in the biography Touch Play, by Dev S. Sukumar. The book is only the second biography of any badminton player.

Though he lost in the first round, two years later he won the state junior title. He changed his playing style into a more aggressive style in 1971, and won and lost the Indian national junior title in 1972. He also won the senior title the same year. He won the national title consecutively for the next seven years. In 1978, he won his first major international title, the men's singles gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada.[5] In 1979, he won the "Evening of Champions" at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

In 1980, he won the Danish Open and the Swedish Open, and became the first Indian to win the men's singles title at the All England Championship, with a victory over Indonesian rival Liem Swie King.

He spent much of his international career training in Denmark, and developed close friendships with European players such as Morten Frost.[6]

Other services

After his retirement from competitive sports in 1991, Padukone served as the chairman of the Badminton Association of India for a short while. He also served as the coach of the Indian national badminton team from 1993 to 1996.

Olympic gold quest

After retirement, Padukone has sought to mentor budding young players and help them achieve glory for the country. He runs the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy and, along with Geet Sethi, he is a co-founder of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Olympic sports in India.

Major achievements

Rank Event Date Venue
World Championships
3 Singles 1983 Copenhagen, DEN
Commonwealth Games
1 Singles 1978 Edmonton, CAN
Asian Games
3 Team 1974 Tehran, IRAN
3 Team 1986 Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
World Cup
1 Singles 1981
World Grand Prix
1 Singles 1979 Denmark Open
1 Singles 1980 All England Open
1 Singles 2018 BAI Lifetime Achievement Award

References

  1. "Prakash Padukone Profile". iloveindia. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  2. http://www.theworldgames.org/the-world-games/results-history#edition=0&category=0&country=IND
  3. http://www.iloveindia.com/sports/badminton/players/prakash-padukone.html
  4. "I don't have an issue marrying an actor: Deepika Padukone". The Times of India. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  5. "Shuttlers aim for gold in the upcoming Commonwealth Games, writes M. S. Unnikrishnan". The Tribune. 24 April 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  6. "PROFILE – Morten Frost". Badzine.net. 5 January 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
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