Renowned Indian badminton figure Prakash Padukone will accompany the 15-member national team to the Paris Olympics as a mentor. The prestigious event is scheduled to begin on July 26. Although badminton made its Olympic debut at the 1992 Barcelona Games, Padukone retired from professional sports in 1991. She etched her name in history by becoming the first Indian to win the tournament of any England. Lakshya Sen, India’s rising badminton star, honed his skills at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA).
Meanwhile, PV Sindhu, gearing up for her third Olympic appearance, recently shifted her training center from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. He publicly announced Padukone as his mentor in preparation for the Paris Games.
Indian Badminton Squad Ready for the Paris Olympics
“There are seven players and eight attendants, including coaches and medical staff,” a source told PTI. “Pullela Gopichand, RMV Gurusaidutt, Agus Santosa, Vimal Kumar, and Mathias Boe will be the teachers who will go to Paris, while Prakash Padukone will serve as a consultant. Zeinia Samar and Kiran Challagundla will be the two physiotherapists on the team. “
Gopichand, India’s national coach, will be joined by Gurusaidutt, coach of HS Prannoy, and Boe, the coach of the two sons of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and two daughters. The duo consists of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto. Lakshya has been under the tutelage of former Indian coach Vimal Kumar, while Sindhu trained Agus in Bengaluru.
Kiran, the long-time physiotherapist of the Indian badminton team, will join Zeinia, who recently joined Sindhu’s camp to move to Bengaluru in her quest to win an unprecedented third Olympic medal. In the previous Olympic Games, India’s head coach Gopichand did not choose to go to Tokyo due to restrictions on the number of authorized personnel to accompany the athletes, given COVID-19 in 2021.
At the Paris Olympics, Indian motorcyclists will look to continue their medal streak, building on the silver and two bronze medals won by the country in the previous three editions. The Badminton competition at the Paris Olympics will begin on July 27 and continue until August 5.
