Legendary badminton player Prakash Padukone is set to mentor the 15-member Indian badminton squad at the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26. Padukone was the first Indian to win the prestigious All England Championship. He retired in 1991, a year before badminton was introduced as an Olympic sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Lakshya Sen, a standout player and product of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), will be part of the squad. P.V. Sindhu, who announced Padukone as her mentor ahead of the Paris Games, has shifted her training base from Hyderabad to Bengaluru, where she is preparing for her third Olympics.
The coaching team traveling to Paris includes Pullela Gopichand, RMV Gurusaidutt, Agus Santosa, Vimal Kumar, and Mathias Boe. Prakash Padukone will serve as the team mentor.
Physiotherapists Zeinia Samar and Kiran Challagundla will also be part of the support staff. Gopichand, India’s national chief coach, had opted out of the Tokyo Olympics due to a cap on the number of officials allowed to accompany athletes because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The coaching assignments are as follows: Gurusaidutt is training HS Prannoy, Boe is coaching the men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as well as the women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, Vimal Kumar is currently training Lakshya Sen, and Agus Santosa is coaching Sindhu in Bengaluru.
Physiotherapist Kiran Challagundla has been a long-time member of the Indian badminton team’s support staff, while Zeinia Samar joined Sindhu’s camp following her relocation to Bengaluru, supporting her goal of securing an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic medal.
The inclusion of Padukone as a mentor is a significant boost for the team, given his wealth of experience and status in Indian badminton. Sindhu, who has previously won a silver and a bronze medal in the Olympics, will benefit from Padukone’s guidance as she aims for gold in Paris. Lakshya Sen, another strong medal contender, will also be looking to make a mark under the mentorship of Padukone and the coaching of Vimal Kumar.
The Indian badminton team will aim to continue its successful run in the Olympics, having secured a silver and two bronze medals across the last three editions. The badminton events in Paris will commence on July 27 and conclude on August 5.
