Dubai: One of India’s greatest badminton stars has urged the UAE youths to utilise sport to chase their dreams for international excellence.
Prakash Padukone, a former world No. 1 and All England champion, told young badminton players that they need to keep their sporting aspirations alive while chasing their dreams.
“It is important that every child plays some sort of sport. Not everyone can be a world champion, but it is still important to play some sort of sport growing up,” Padukone told young badminton players from the Prime Star Sport Academy on Friday.
The Dubai-based academy has signed an exclusive partnership with Padukone’s Prakash Padukone Sport Management (PPSM) to discover the next badminton star in the UAE. As per the agreement, PPSM will guide and help Prime Star Sport Academy to create professional badminton champions in the UAE.
PPSM operates from Bengaluru in Southern India with a talent pool of more than 500 athletes primarily in badminton, athletics shooting and swimming.
“The path is clear. Right now, we are focusing on the juniors as we need to keep a steady flow of players at international level,” Padukone explained.
“Gopi [Pulella Gopichand] is doing a great job at the senior level. To keep the flow of players going we need to pay attention to the under-19s, and I must point out here that there are a few juniors who have been making improvements and breaking through. I would expect a few of them to be in the top-10 by the next Olympic Games or even after,” he added.
During the course of deliberations with Prime Star officials, Padukone was pleased to learn of the fast growth of badminton in the UAE, mainly based on the Dubai Government-backed project, Shuttle Time. “It is the same thing in India as well. Badminton has grown manifold and there is a huge jump in numbers. So whether you play for pleasure or to be a champion, it is important to realise that sport helps you learn and be a better person,” Padukone told the children.
“I am here to assure you all that we will add a lot of value to the good work that is already being done here. In the next three to five years, we will see an independent badminton federation here and I assure you all the support to grow,” the former two-time world champion said.
Former India player Vijay Lancy, who is now CEO at PPSM, hailed the earnestness of Prime Star. “They have shown a lot of sincerity in what they want to do with badminton here. They know sport and they are passionate about growing badminton in the UAE,” Lancy said.
PSSA, represented by co-founders Ravichandran K. and Ravikumar B.M. and chief coach Francis Segui, hope to see a few of their juniors train at the PPSM facilities in Bengaluru in the near future. “For us, this tie-up is like a dream come true. We are privileged to have a great legend like Prakash Padukone as our partner. And to have him here at an auspicious time when India has won a silver medal through PV Sindhu means it is a good omen for,” Ravikumar said.
