Dressed in an impeccably crisp blue shirt, Prakash Padukone let out a big smile when asked if he missed what he had been doing for more than three decades after retiring as India’s trailblazing badminton player: elite coaching.
This, from a player who reached his second All England final in March (only the second Indian man to do it twice after Padukone), and a pair which won the China Masters heading into the Asian Games. The disappointment wasn’t just about the dip in returns but also the stage of the exits. Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Lakshya Sen, for instance, crashed out early. “They play throughout the year, so it’s difficult to be on top all the time, for everybody. But I would definitely like the players to be more consistent. And it is possible. “I’m not saying you win all the tournaments. But at least reach the quarters, semis. There are some… like you win a tournament and lose the first round in the next. That should be avoided. “I’m happy that despite winning so many medals, she is still hungry. That’s the kind of hunger that the others should also display. Especially Lakshya and maybe even the doubles pairs. Not be satisfied with what they have achieved. Look to win big tournaments, and continue doing that. “We’ll have to maybe change the kind of game we are playing.
They need to put in a little more effort,” said India’s first All England champion in 1980. It is not due to lack of support – they have a lot of support. Because they are all still very young,” the badminton legend said, go all out in the next 5-6 years,. Because of fitness, because of playing too many tournaments, “I don’t know whether we are now losing. Because now the games will be shorter.”, maybe be a little more aggressive,.
We’ll have to wait and see,” Padukone said.
At the top, Indian badminton isn’t having the best of times currently. The one-medal Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games was a significant drop from the three-medal Hangzhou edition. There was no gold and individual medal to go with the men’s team bronze. “It was a little disappointing. We had done much better last time, and considering the kind of talent we have, we should have done much better.
Even I was expecting, if not to better, at least equal the last time’s medal tally,” Padukone told select media on Thursday in Mumbai, where he signed an MoU between the Padukone School of Badminton and the International Institute of Sports Management (IISM) to develop nationally recognised coach education programmes.
