Former Indian badminton champion Prakash Padukone believes India’s future sporting champions could increasingly emerge from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, provided young athletes have access to quality infrastructure, equipment and coaching.
Speaking on the sidelines of the signing of an MoU between the Padukone School of Badminton and the International Institute of Sports Management (IISM), Padukone highlighted the rapid growth of badminton across the country and stressed the urgent need to strengthen grassroots development and improve coaching standards.
Smaller cities emerging as talent hubs
“Earlier, the talent was always there in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. But there was no infrastructure, there was no coaching, there was no equipment. You only need these three things in any sport. You first need a good infrastructure, then coaches, and then equipment,” Padukone said.
According to Padukone, that situation is gradually changing as better facilities and greater access to sporting resources allow young athletes from smaller towns to pursue their ambitions. “I think this is a change. The bigger cities, I see this trend going forward. We will get most of our champions from smaller towns, smaller districts. They will start their initial career there, then move to bigger cities where they have better facilities,” he added.
Greater focus on grassroots development
For Padukone, the focus now needs to be on strengthening the foundation of the sport rather than concentrating only on elite athletes and international medals. He believes the priority should be to get more children playing badminton while ensuring they learn the correct techniques from the beginning.
He recalled a recent tournament involving the Under-15 and Under-17 categories that had around 4,000 entries, requiring 10 days of competition and 22 courts during the first five days. Such numbers, he said, demonstrate not only the growing popularity of badminton but also the scale of the challenge facing the country's coaching system.
Urgent need to improve coaching standards
“There is definitely a big gap, and I think there is a very urgent need to address the quality of coaching. They are doing a reasonable job, but I think a lot more needs to be done,” Padukone said.
Padukone also stressed that responsibility for a player's progress cannot rest entirely with the coach. He spoke about the tendency among some young players to change academies after a series of defeats, often blaming their coaches instead of examining their own shortcomings.
