Prakash Padukone is one of the most renowned sportspersons of India and he represented the country in the sports of badminton. Let us take a look at the life- journey of this legendary player.
Prakash Padukone
Childhood & Personal Life
Prakash belongs to a Brahmin family and his father Ramesh Padukone was employed in the Madras Badminton Association at the post of Secretary. His mother’s name is Ahilya Padukone and he also has a brother who lives in Mangalore. Also read about, Shehnaz Kaur Gill, Paras Chhabra.
Prakash got married to Ujjala with whom he has two beautiful daughters – one of them is superbly talented Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and the second one is Anisha Padukone, a professional golfer.
Prakash got interested in Badminton from his childhood days because his father used to encourage him to take up the sport.
Career
It was in the year 1962 that Prakash Padukone, the right hand shuttler, made his debut as a badminton player in the Karnataka state junior championship in which he was defeated in the very first round. However, he won the title two years later in 1964.
He changed his style of playing to a great extent in 1971 and became more aggressive on the court. Same year, he not only won the national junior title but also the national senior title. What’s more, he was the youngest player to win the national senior title as he was just 16 years old at that time. He went on to win the national senior title for 9 years continuously (1971-79).
His first big International win was in 1978 when he won the men’s singles gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. In 1979, he went on to win the “Evening of Champions” at the Royal Albert Hall in London and next year in 1980, he emerged victorious against the Indonesian badminton player Liem Swie King in the All England Championship.
That was the period when he was unbeatable; he not only won the Danish Open but the Swedish Open as well. He defeated Ruby Hartono whom he considered as his idol in the Swedish Open. In the period of 5 years (1980-85), he won total 15 titles. He is also referred to as The Silent Tiger and The Undisputed Leader because of his superb winning statistics.
Retirement
Prakash got retired in 1991 and for some time, he worked as the chairman of the Badminton Association of India. From 1993 to 1996, he worked as the coach of national badminton team. It was in the year 1994 that he set up a badminton academy and named it Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy.
He is also a co-founder of Olympic Gold Quest which was founded in 2001 with an aim of promoting Olympic sports in the country.
Relationships/Marital Status
Prakash Padukone is married to Ujjala and the couple is proud parents of two daughters – Deepika Padukone, one of the most popular actresses of Bollywood and Anisha Padukone, one of the top golfers of India.
Awards & Achievements
- In 1972, Prakash was awarded with Arjuna Award.
- In 1982, he was conferred with Padma Shri by GOI.
- In 2014, the GQ Men of the Year Awards presented him with Outstanding Achievement Award.
- In 2018, Prakash received the BAI Lifetime Achievement Award.
Some more information about Prakash Padukone
- Touch Play is the name of Prakash Padukone’s biograpahy which was written by Dev S. Sukumar.
- He has good friendship with many players from Europe, such as Morten Frost because majority of his International training was carried out in Denmark.
Prakash Padukone Biography
- Name: Prakash Padukone
- Date of Birth: 10 June 1955
- Age: 64 years
- Height: 6 feet 1 inch
- Weight: 75 kg
- Birth Place: Padukone village, Kundapura, Udupi, India
- Nationality: Indian
- Religion: Hinduism (Brahmin)
- School: Information not available
- College: Information not available
- Educational Qualification: Graduate
- Marital Status: Married
- Father: Ramesh Padukone
- Mother: Ahilya Padukone
- Brother: Information not available
- Skin Color: Wheatish
- Home Town: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
- Hobbies: Watching sports and movies
- Career Debut: 1962
- Favorite Movie of his daughter Deepika Padukone: Bajirao Mastani
- Net Worth: $106 Million (approx.)
