Prakash Padukone

Prakash Padukone (born 10 June 1955) is an Indian former 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.

Early life

Padukone was born on 10 June 1955 in Bangalore 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 Mysore Badminton Association for many years.

Padukone's first official tournament was the Karnataka state junior championship in 1962, which he lost in the very first round. However, two years later he managed to win the state junior title. He changed his playing style to a more aggressive one 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 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 and became the first Indian to win the men's singles title at the All England Championship with a victory over Indonesia's Liem Swie King, who was one of the world's leading singles players of his era. Padukone spent much of his international career training in Denmark, and developed close friendships with European players such as Morten Frost.

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. He co-founded Olympic Gold Quest with Geet Sethi, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Olympic sports in India.

Personal life

File:Padukone with family.jpg

Prakash Padukone with family

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

Achievements

World Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1983	Brøndbyhallen, Copenhagen, Denmark	Template:Flagicon Icuk Sugiarto	15–9, 7–15, 1–15	Bronze Bronze

World Cup

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1980	Kyoto, Japan	Template:Flagicon Liem Swie King	12–15, 6–15	Bronze Bronze
1981	Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Template:Flagicon Han Jian	15–0, 18–16	Gold Gold

World Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1981	San Jose Civic Auditorium, California, United States	Template:Flagicon Chen Changjie	14–18, 16–18	Bronze Bronze

Asian Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1976	Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad, India	Template:Flagicon Liem Swie King	8–15, 3–15	Bronze Bronze

Commonwealth Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1978	Edmonton, Alberta, Canada	Template:Flagicon Derek Talbot	15–9, 15–8	Gold Gold

International tournaments

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1979	India Open	Template:Flagicon Dhany Sartika	15–10, 11–15, 12–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1979	English Masters	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	15–4, 15–11	Template:Gold1 Winner
1980	Copenhagen Cup	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	8-15, 15-10, 9-15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1980	Denmark Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	15–7, 18–13	Template:Gold1 Winner
1980	All England	Template:Flagicon Liem Swie King	15–3, 15–10	Template:Gold1 Winner
1980	Swedish Open	Template:Flagicon Rudy Hartono	9–15, 15–12, 15–1	Template:Gold1 Winner
1981	Denmark Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	7–15, 5–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1981	All England	Template:Flagicon Liem Swie King	15–11, 4–15, 6–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1981	English Masters	Template:Flagicon Luan Jin	9–15, 8–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1981	India Open	Template:Flagicon Han Jian	9–15, 15–5, 15–12	Template:Gold1 Winner
1981	Scandinavian Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	4–15, 11–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1982	Dutch Open	Template:Flagicon Ray Stevens	5–15, 15–2, 15–2	Template:Gold1 Winner
1982	Denmark Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	7–15, 8–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1982	Scandinavian Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	3–15, 4–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1983	Chinese Taipei Open	Template:Flagicon Icuk Sugiarto	10–15, 8–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1983	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Han Jian	15–6, 8–15, 9–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1983	Dutch Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	11–15, 4–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1983	Scandinavian Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	17–18, 2–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1983	India Open	Template:Flagicon Morten Frost	7–15, 13–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1984	Thailand Open	Template:Flagicon Icuk Sugiarto	15–13, 5–15, 4–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1985	Chinese Taipei Open	Template:Flagicon Lius Pongoh	15–5, 9–15, 10–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1981	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Flemming Delfs	Template:Flagicon Christian Hadinata Template:Flagicon Lius Pongoh	4–15, 5–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up
1988	U.S. Open	Template:Flagicon Liem Swie King	Template:Flagicon Christian Hadinata Template:Flagicon Lius Pongoh	15–7, 11–15, 13–15	Template:Silver2 Runner-up

Invitational tournaments

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1978	Asian Invitational Championships	Capital Indoor Stadium Peking, China	Template:Flagicon Syed Modi	Template:Flagicon Lin Shiquan Template:Flagicon Tang Xianhu	3–15, 5–15	Silver Silver

External links

• Template:Sports 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