Badminton great Prakash Padukone has tied up with Tata Capital to launch a talent hunt for children between 8 and 12 years of age at five gymkhanas of Mumbai.
|Last Updated: May 20, 2013, 02:22 PM IST|Source: Bureau
Mumbai: Badminton great Prakash Padukone has tied up with Tata Capital to launch a talent hunt for children between 8 and 12 years of age at five gymkhanas of the city culminating in a two-day tournament next month to select eight of them to undergo training at his Bangalore-based academy.
The talent hunt will be held from May 27 to June 7 to identify potentially good players for the two-day tournament at the Cricket Club of India on June 15 and 16 from where four boys and as many girls are to be picked for a training stint here or at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, it was announced at a news conference on Monday.
Padukone said a renowned coach from Indonesia, Yusuf Johari, has been roped in to identify potentially good players and would work on the children and correct their footwork and grip during the talent hunt.
"This initiative is restricted to only those who have never played the sport. Fifty to 100 children would be called up at each club for a two-day trial and the selected few would take part in the two-day tournament," said Prakash.
"At the end of the tournament we will pick four boys and four girls for further training in Mumbai or even at Bangalore in our academy," said Padukone who later said that a trio of very talented boys from his academy would also play an exhibition match at the CCI.
Apart from CCI, the other clubs/gymkhanas who are part of the initiative are Bombay Gymkhana, Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana, Khar Gymkhana and National Sports Club of India.
"Johari is very good in training children and was with us at the academy in January-February. He is a very experienced coach in teaching technique and footwork. It’s very important to teach players the right grip and footwork at a young age as later on its very difficult to correct them," said Padukone.
"This is the first initiative of such kind in India and depending on its success it can be replicated in other cities," he added.
Though the initiative is open to non-members of the five club/gymkhanas, members` children would get preference in signing up for the project, said Bombay Gymkhana`s badminton secretary Shirish Nadkarni.
PTI
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.