Several triumphant moments are ruminated and cherished in the long-sporting history of Vijayawada. But one historical pounding is close to the hearts of the denizens’ even after 35 years. The defeat is a much-talked in the sporting circles for it involved an icon and it changed the course of the journey of the game in the country.
Former all England badminton champion Prakash Padukone made his exit in the men’s singles final of the Senior National badminton championship held at Dandamudi Rajagopala Rao indoor stadium in 1981 bowing out to late Syed Modi of Uttar Pradesh in straight games in just 45 minutes.
The loss saw the country’s premier shuttler sliding from his prime and making way for the reticent railway shuttler to emerge as his successor.
“He (Prakash) was the star of the event and the packed stadium went gaga over him. Too much was at stake for the champ as he was all set to defend his all England title at London few weeks later. He was under pressure,” recollects former Andhra Pradesh Badminton Association secretary K. Ch. Punnaiah Chowdary.
The star shuttler had just returned from the cool confines of Copenhagan (Denmark), where he had a long training stint and the sudden change in weather played a defining role in his defeat. “The sweltering atmosphere in the stadium increased his difficulty in measuring and adjusting to the drift of the shuttle. He kept hitting the shuttle long,” says senior administrator Ankamma Chowdary.
The crowd kept egging on him but the series of unforced errors from the champion shuttler came as a big surprise to the 3,000-odd spectators.
Syed Modi, an underdog, tactfully thwarted Prakash’s attempt to get back into the game by rejecting the faster shuttles, which Prakash preferred for more than a half-a dozen times. He went all guns blazing to tame his senior partner in 15-10, 15-9.
Former Sports Authority of India coach P.U. Bhaskar Babu says that the change in shuttles was the reason for the defeat. “Until then Prakash was playing abroad with international shuttles. He could not adjust to the flight and trajectory of the Indian ones. He also arrived late and played too many games in a short duration.”
Many still recollected Modi dashing off to the opposite side to embrace stunned Prakash, who gracefully patted the back of Modi in appreciation.
The tournament generated a fair amount of excitement in the coastal Andhra and helped the game grow. The heavy turnout and spectator interest witnessed during the event confirmed that the game had a great future.
The rise and fall of badminton
The feather game was the one of the flourishing indoor games in Vijayawada in the 60s and 70s thanks to passionate players like Dr. Burghall, Dr. Jacob, Dr. Roy, Ranjan Roy, P. Sudhakar, Peter, Bangaru Raju, Ramalingeswara Rao, Yellaiah, H. Venkatesh, Muralidhar, P.N.S.S. Prasad Rao (the coach who identified Saina Nehwal), Shyam Sundar, Kiran Kumar, Siril, Murthy, Ravi Sukumar, Sneha Latha, Suraiya, Rajendra and Ravindra, the city witnessed hectic badminton activity.
The turning point came when National Sports Talent Centre (NSTC) was sanctioned at V.P. Siddhartha Public School by SAI in 1987. The entrance of P.U. Bhaskar Babu transformed the game and in a short span of time several talented players blossomed from the centre. Shuttlers like Neelima Chowdary, J.B.S. Vidyadhar, Chetan Anand, Swetha, M. Radhika, B. Sri Lakshmi, A. Prudhvi, P. Sunil, P. Sarat Chandra and many others won hundreds of medals in mini, sub-junior, junior, senior and several national and several international events for Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh and India.
Bhaskar Babu’s shifting his base to Hyderabad to take up the assignment with Indian team in 2005 was the beginning of the gradual plummeting of the game in Vijayawada. Even Chetan Anand’s effort to run an academy failed to take off.
Just for laughs
The event in 1981 was a huge one for the media which was predominantly ruled by print those days and newspapers were keen on splashing pictures of the star shuttlers in action.
A chief photographer of a vernacular daily asked his junior get a picture of Prakash Padukone in action.
“Prakash Padukone picture pattukura (Bring a Prakash Padukone picture),” the chief said. The junior, who saw the on-court action for the entire day, came back to the office without clicking any picture of international fame Prakash.
“Prakash Padukone picture yedi? (Where is the picture of Prakash Padukone?),” asked the chief.
“Meeru Prakash Padukone picture adigaru. Ayina Padukoledhuga. (You asked for a picture of Prakash. But he did not lie down).
The junior, who was poor at phonetics, mistook Padukone’s name for ‘Padukune’ which in Telugu means lying down.
True Facts
Syed Modi’s real name is Syed Mehdi. Owing to typographical mistake by the SSC Board his name appeared as Syed Modi in the mark list.
Prakash Padukone stayed at Hotel Mamata, while Syed Modi was put up at Hotel Manorama.
The badminton national was the first major event at DRRMC indoor stadium.
