Prakash Padukone Academy “did not” force Saina Nehwal to train under Vimal Kumar
Team Udayavani, Jan 14, 2020, 10:59 AM IST
New Delhi: The Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) on Tuesday made it clear that it played no role in Saina Nehwal shifting from Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad to Bengaluru to train under Vimal Kumar ahead of the Rio Olympics, calling the move the “sole decision” of the ace shuttler.
Gopichand, in a chapter titled ‘Bitter Rivalry’ of an upcoming book ‘Dreams of a Billion: India and the Olympic Games’, revealed how miserable he felt when Saina decided to join Padukone’s academy to train under Vimal Kumar in Bengaluru after the 2014 World Championship.
Gopichand also said he felt hurt that Padukone, Vimal and Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) official Viren Rasquinha “encouraged her to leave Hyderabad”.
“PPBA did not have any role to play in Saina Nehwal’s decision to move to Bangalore and train at PPBA,” Padukone academy said in a statement.
“However, Vimal Kumar did help Saina in her slump period that saw her attain World No.1 ranking, besides getting silver medal at the All England Championships and World Championships.”
In the book, Gopichand also wondered why the legendary Padukone, India’s first badminton superstar “never had anything positive to say about him”.
In response to this, PPBA said: “PPBA has utmost regard for Gopichand’s contributions to Indian badminton as a player and a coach. We have also acknowledged Gopichand’s contribution to his wards’ successful performance at the world level and has always maintained good relations with him.”
Gopichand himself had trained under Padukone before deciding to work under coach Ganguly Prasad ahead of his All England victory in 2001.
“PPBA has been grooming players over the last 25 years and has always stood for supporting their interest in whatever way we can. We have too many players moving on from our Academy at various stages in their career. We have never believed in restricting their growth, and that will continue to be academy’s policy.
“The sporting careers of international athletes competing at the highest levels is relatively short, therefore it is up to each player to decide whatever is in his/her interests and make the most of the opportunities available to achieve their respective goals during their peak period,” the Padukone academy said.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
Satwik-Chirag enter semifinals, Lakshya loses to Antonsen in China Masters
Sony India bags ACC media rights for eight years
BGT Day 1: Bumrah leads India’s spectacular bowling comeback after batting no-show
India crawl to 51 for 4 after losing top-order
Mohammed Shami ridicules Sanjay Manjrekar over comments on reduced IPL value
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Vikram Gowda Encounter: Uneasy silence shrouds Peethabail
Kaziranga National Park to be centrepiece of 12th edition of ITM in Assam
Engineer dead, supervisor injured as wire rope snaps at metro site
Karnataka bypolls: Cong leads in Sandur, BJP and JD(S) ahead in Shiggaon and Channapatna
COP29: Civil society protests climate finance proposal, calls for ‘no deal’ over ‘bad deal’
Thanks for visiting Udayavani
You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.