GOOD NEWS: Prakash Padukone and daughter Deepika launch ambitious badminton academy drive

News of badminton legend Prakash Padukone, the first Indian to win the All England Badminton title in 1980, when he defeated Liew Swie King, setting up more centres in India comes as music to the ears. On Tuesday, the soft-spoken Prakash turned 70, and his famous daughter Deepika Padukone, a Bollywood celebrity, took to social media and announced how many centres would come up all over in India -- Bengaluru, NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur, Pune, Nashik, Mysuru, Panipat, Dehradun, Udaipur, Coimbatore, Sangli, and Surat.

Just to jog the readers’ memory, Prakash set up his first centre with Vimal Kumar in Bangalore almost four decades ago. For those who talk of high-performance centres today, it may be a bit of jargon. Yet, for all those who have followed Prakash the badminton hero and Prakash the mentor, he has not changed one bit. This writer is fortunate to have watched Prakash train in South Delhi over five decades ago, whenever he would land in the Capital. Those were the days when an indoor badminton centre in New Delhi or other major cities was almost unheard of. Prakash had a famous sparring partner in Vikram Bisht, who later married Madhumita Goswami. Both Vikram and Madhumita still coach in South Delhi.

To be sure, Indian badminton has hit the nadir. For those of us who grew up watching a Prakash emerge as All England Champion or P.Gopichand also win the All England in 2001, the rise of super stars in the distaff side was important. India’s first badminton Olympic medallist, Saina Nehwal (London 2012), and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020) have done their bit. If you track the career and trajectories of Saina and Sindhu, be it at the Asian Games or even the Olympics, at some point of time or the other, they have approached Prakash Padukone. It is well-known, last year, before the Paris 2024 Olympics, Sindhu and Lakshya Sen were training under the watchful eyes of Prakash Sir and seasoned coach Vimal Kumar. That results in the last Olympics were not good is no fault of Prakash Padukone, though his meltdown against Lakshya, after the boy lost, was quite scary.

As per the press release put out by Deepika Paduokone, who herself played badminton before embracing Bollywood, the plan is to ramp up more centres in India. Olympic sporting disciplines in India needs a major push. And badminton has been part of the Olympics programme without any fear of being pushed out. There is a crying need for India to have more badminton centres, even if it be for players who are not really storming the international circuit. If you go through the ranking of Indians on the BWF website, it is clear, there is enormous concern. Forget the 2028 Olympics, even for the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, India do not have players who can win medals. This is one sport where the standard in Asia is high, so winning a medal in the Asian Games is not easy.

As Prakash turns 70, fans from previous generations look at him as someone who has been a role model on and off the court. He is not someone who went to Paris last year because he wanted to see what an Olympics was like. Yes, it was at the insistence of Sindhu, he decided to take a plunge. Sample this, if what Deepika Padukone has said in a press release turns out true, India will have 100 badminton centres under the Padukone umbrella in one year and 250 centres in three years. This is mind blowing, just to hear.

It is well-known, when one talks of badminton centres in India, people will think of the Gopichand and SAI centre in Gachibowli, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. More high-performance centres have also come up, with Guwahati also boasting of one centre. Quality will come from quantity, so if Prakash and his famous daughter have stepped up for an ambitious project, it needs to be welcomed. Coaching centres is serious stuff.

Obviously, as a brand, Prakash and Deepika can lend their name and keep an eye on centres which will come up. The big deal is, who will run it, what will be the quality of coaches who will be hired and how much effort will go into hiring strength and conditioning experts. Badminton is more about speed and fitness rather than silken skills. Nobody knows it better than Prakash himself as the game has changed so much since the time he won the All England title 45 years ago.