Prakash Padukone (born 10 June 1955) is a former Indian

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

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 The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premi ...

. He was awarded the

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982 by the Government of India. He is one of the co-founders of

Olympic Gold Quest Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) is a program of the Foundation for Promotion of Sports and Games, a Not for Profit (Section 25) Company, which is committed to bridging the gap between the best athletes in India and the best athletes in the world thus hel ...

, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Olympic sports in India.

Early life

Padukone was born on 10 June 1955 in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in Karnataka. His father, Ramesh, was a secretary of the Mysore Badminton Association.

Career

Prakash was initiated into the game by his father Ramesh Padukone, who was the Secretary of the "Mysore Badminton Association" for many years. Padukone's first official tournament was the Karnataka state junior championship in 1962. Though he lost in the very first round, two years later he managed to win the state junior title. He changed his playing style into a more aggressive style in 1971, and won 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 The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

in Edmonton, Canada. In 1979, he won the "Evening of Champions" at the Royal Albert Hall, London. In 1980, he won the Danish Open, the

Swedish Open Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and became the first Indian to win the men's singles title at the

All England Championship The IPW:UK All-England Championship (formerly the FWA All-England Championship) was a professional wrestling championship which was originally contested for in Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) and subsequently in International Pro Wrestling: Un ...

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 Morten Frost or Morten Frost Hansen (born 4 April 1958) is a former badminton player and later coach, who represented Denmark. As a player, he spent twelve years in the top three of the world rankings. Badminton career During his career, Frost w ...

Other services

After his retirement from competitive sports in 1991, Padukone served as the chairman of the

Badminton Association of India Badminton Association of India (BAI) is the governing body of badminton in India. BAI is an association registered under the societies act. It was formed in 1934, and has been holding national-level tournaments in India since 1936. BAI has 28 ...

for a short while. He also served as the coach of the Indian national badminton team from 1993 to 1996. He co-founded

with

Geet Sethi Geet Siriram Sethi (born 17 April 1961) of India is a professional player of English billiards who dominated the sport throughout much of the 1990s. He is also a notable amateur (ex-pro) snooker player. He is a five-time winner of the professio ...

, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Olympic sports in India.

Personal life

Padukone married Ujjala. They have two daughters, Deepika and Anisha.

Achievements

World Championships

''Men's singles''

World Cup

''Men's singles''

World Games

''Men's singles''

Asian Championships

''Men's singles''

Commonwealth Games

''Men's singles''

International tournaments

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles''

Invitational tournaments

''Men's doubles''

References

External links

*
Authorised Biography

Video interview of Prakash Padukone talking about early days of badminton in India, the sport, his superstitions, badminton, IBL, sport films and Deepika Padukone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Padukone, Prakash 1955 births Living people Indian male badminton players Konkani people Indian national badminton champions Indian badminton coaches Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Recipients of the Arjuna Award Racket sportspeople from Bangalore World No. 1 badminton players Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Badminton players at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Asian Games medalists in badminton Asian Games bronze medalists for India Badminton players at the 1974 Asian Games Badminton players at the 1978 Asian Games Badminton players at the 1986 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1986 Asian Games World Games medalists in badminton World Games bronze medalists Competitors at the 1981 World Games