Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy renamed as Center for Badminton Excellence

After more than three decades since its inception, the famous Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy no longer bears the name of the legendary shuttler, who won the All England title in 1980 to mark a turning point in Indian sporting history.

As of October 1, one of India’s most famous badminton centres, where the likes of P. Gopichand and Saina Nehwal once trained and now PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen continue to improve their games, has been renamed as Center for Badminton Excellence (CBE) after Padukone decided to resign.

Founded in 1994 by the trio of Padukone, former national champion and Dronacharya winner U. Vimal Kumar, and industrialist and sports promoter Vivek Kumar, the former PPBA trained India’s elite and was one of the country’s national badminton centres.

With Padukone now focusing his energies on the Padukone School of Badminton (PSB), an entrepreneurial venture with daughter Deepika, Vimal and Vivek will take full charge of the CBE.

The sprawling Padukone-Dravid Center for Sports Excellence on the outskirts of the city, which housed the erstwhile PPBA, will now have both the CBE and a unit of the PSB under one roof.

“Prakash had been indicating for a while and he wanted to move from the excellence side to school education,” Vimal said. The Hindu on Tuesday. “But the players and the coaches all remain the same.”

“For me it’s a bit nostalgic. We were among the first private academies to be established in 1994. We just named it after Prakash because no other name was needed.

“Since then, we have grown a lot and have better facilities. Vivek has been a great help. Our sponsors, Infosys Foundation, remain the same. Our academy was never a commercial program and we aim to train India’s best,” Vimal added.