Prakash Padukone is a former Indian 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 the "Mysore Badminton Association" for many years.

Padukone's first official tournament was the Karnataka state junior championship in 1962. Though he lost in the very first round, two years later he managed to win the state junior title. He changed his playing style into a more aggressive style 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 Indonesian rival Liem Swie King. He 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

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

Achievements

World Championships

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

World cup

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

World games

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

Asian championship
 

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

International tounaments

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

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

Commonwealth games
 

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