Padukone, the All England champ in 1980, looked a bit embarrassed
India's batting icon Sunil Gavaskar with badminton legend Prakash Padukone at the Sportstar Aces awards in Mumbai on Thursday.
When two of India's greatest sport stars share the stage, it is bound to make everyone sit up, and take notice. That's what happened when legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar was called to present the lifetime achievement award to the country's shuttling great, Prakash Padukone at a glittering ceremony to celebrate 40 years of Sportstar magazine yesterday.
Before presenting the award, Gavaskar admitted: "It is a fan boy moment for me. With no disrespect to other sporting heroes of India, you [Padukone] are the greatest Indian sportsman ever. In those days, All England was like the World Championships."
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Padukone, the All England champ in 1980, looked a bit embarrassed. "I don't deserve so much praise. I accept this award. I dedicate it to fellow players for the growth of Indian badminton. I played badminton at a time when not many knew about it. Ball badminton was quite popular. I had to say shuttle badminton. From there to where we are, I am delighted to play a small part in evolution of India badminton when we are amongst the top four. The time has come that Chinese and Indonesian see whether they are playing an Indian first," said Padukone.
India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who was the joint recipient of the Indian cricket sportsman of the year award with Virat Kohli, was thrilled over India's historic victory Down Under. "India is a country of legends known for batting. To win abroad, we had to do well as a bowling unit. So, at the start of the year, we decided to work on that," he said.
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