--Tata Padukone Badminton Academy--

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Faculty

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Prakash Padukone

During 1979-81, Prakash won the All England Badminton Championships, the Danish Open and was ranked World No.1. Prakash has an astute Badminton brain and his game analysis is perhaps the most valued input for all our trainees.

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Major Achievements:
�	National Senior Champion for Nine Years in a row from 1971 to 1979
�	CommonWealth games Gold medal winner in 1978 at Edmonton, Canada
�	Winner of the first Prize Money Tournament in Badminton i.e. English Masters at Royal Albert Hall, London in 1979
�	Won the Danish Open, Swedish Open and the All England Championships in 1980
�	Became a licensed player in December 1980 & moved to Copenhagen, Denmark
�	Winner of the first Alba World Cup in October 1981 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
�	Won the First Indian Open Prize Money Tournament at Pune during November 1981
�	Won the Dutch Open in 1982. Won the Hong Kong Open in 1982
�	Winner of the Bronze Medal in the World Championships held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1983
�	"Arjuna Award" winner in 1972. Awarded "Padmashree" in 1982
�	Manager of the Indian Team which won the Silver Medal in the Men's Event & Bronze
�	Medal in the Women's Event of the CommonWealth Games 1998

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Vimal Kumar

An International player who was ranked in the World Top 20 during 1988 and 1989, Vimal has honed his coaching skills with the best coaches in the World at the International Badminton Federation World Badminton Academy at Kuala Lumpur, Auckland & Cape Town. Presently, India's Joint Chief Coach, Vimal brings in tremendous intensity and skill to his responsibility as the Chief Coach of the Academy.

Major Achievements:
�	Won the National Championship twice, in 1988 & 1989
�	Represented India in the 1992 Olympics
�	Won the French International and Welsh Open Tournaments
�	Represented India at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Thomas Cup matches for the last ten years

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Balachandran T. R.

Balachandran is the Coach & Manager of the Academy. Administration & co-ordination of Coaches for both Seniors and Juniors is taken care of by him.

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Career Profile:
�	Working in PPBA since 1995
�	Also Coach of Karnataka Badminton Team for South Zone Inter State Championships
�	Had been to Malaysia for an orientation course under Morten Frost

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I. Nagaraj

NIS Coach Nagaraj is in charge of a group of talented beginners at the academy.

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Career Profile:
�	Coach of Karnataka Badminton Association for beginners

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Nivedita Rajan

Nivedita Rajan holds a masters in clinical psychology and Pre-Doctoral degree (M. Phil) in Sports Psychology. She also holds a professional degree in Personnel Management and Industrial relations (NIPM).

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Professional career:
�	She has had over ten years of experience with Indian Institute of Materials Management as Deputy Director - Education and Administration
Sports Career:
�	She represented Karnataka State teams in both Junior and Senior levels from 1979 to 1989 and captained the state teams on several occasions. Under her captaincy Karnataka won the 2nd place at Sr. Nationals in Calcutta in 1986. She has attended a few Indian coaching camps in preparation for Asian basketball Championships held at Seoul, Hong Kong etc
�	Nivedita is a consultant sports psychologist for various Sports
�	She is also in charge of Basketball coaching at Burn basketball Academy and Kinesis

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Coaches at Pune Center

Anil Modak

Associated as a coach with Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (Pune Centre) since its inception in 1999.

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�	Had been to Malaysia on behalf of the Padukone Academy, as a Supervising Coach with 6 of the promising young players for one month, in the year 2005, at the Malaysian Badminton Academy (KL).
�	Represented Maharashtra State Juniors TEAM in the year 1970.
�	Represented Pune Dist Gents TEAM in the years 1981 and 1982.
�	Winner / Runners-up in Gents Singles / Doubles events in open tournaments held at Pune, Nasik, Solapur, Nanded during the years 1979 to 1988.
�	State Champion in doubles in the years 1995 and 1998 in the age groups of 35 + and 40 +
�	Executive Committee Member of Pune Dist Badminton Association for last 25 years during the period 1975 to 2007.
�	Working as a BADMINTON COACH since the year 1982.
�	Was the CHIEF COACH of Pune Dist. Badminton Association's Coaching Scheme during the period 1989 to 1993
�	RECEIVED "BEST COACH AWARD" from Pune Municipal Corporation in the year 1999.

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Hemant Hardikar

Associated as a coach with Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (Pune Centre) since its inception in 1999.

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�	Represented Maharashtra in various Jr.and senior events in Inter-state and Open national Championships between 1983 to 2001.
�	Member of Mharashtra Jr. and Sr.Teams that won Inter-state team championships.
�	Participated in Singapore Open, Indonesian Open, German Open, Dutch Open, Indo-USSR test matches.