Danish badminton legend Morten Frost has been roped in as a consultant coach for junior players at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, it was announced on Monday.
It is a private arrangement between Olympic Gold Quest (a non-profit organisation set up by Indian badminton legend Prakash Padukone and ace cueist Geet Sethi), PPBA and the former world No 1 Frost, according to a press release. OGQ also supports two badminton Olympic medallists in Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu.
The former All-England champion is scheduled to arrive in Bangalore later this week and will coach junior players at PPBA over the next one year.
Speaking about the visit of his former rival and practice partner Padukone said, “We have been looking at getting a top foreign coach to guide the young players at PPBA. I feel that Morten’s presence will be a huge boost to many talented young players here at the academy. Besides coaching the players, Morten will also help implement a robust coaches development plan.”
Padukone, who founded PPBA almost 25 years ago added, “Morten has tremendous experience as a player, coach and technical director. He has seen badminton over the years when we were playing and he is also very much in touch with the latest developments in world badminton. His experience, insight and technical knowhow will be invaluable for us.”
For his part, Frost said, “I am very excited to come to the PPBA, a very successful academy started by my friend Prakash. India is doing so well in Badminton in the last decade with players like Saina [Nehwal], PV Sindhu and Srikanth [Kidambi] excelling. I am delighted to get an opportunity to contribute to the next generation of young badminton talent in India.”
Viren Rasquinha, former India hockey captain and CEO of OGQ, said he was excited to have the two-time World Championship silver medallist on board.
“We are thrilled to have a legend like Morten Frost coach the young badminton players at the PPBA where many talented young badminton players including Lakshya Sen currently train. Frost will be here in India at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bangalore for a total of 90 days spread over four trips.”
Rasquinha also added Frost will be watching the Senior National Championship in Guwahati this week to take a look at the emerging talent in the country.
Fact-file of Morten Frost:
- Inducted into the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Hall of Fame in 1998.
- Two-time World Championship silver medalist in 1985 and 1987.
- Spent 12 years in the top three of the world rankings.
- Won the prestigious All England title four times in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1987.
- Served as the Chief Coach of the Denmark team, during the Danish National squad won more than 20 major international titles including an Olympic Gold medal in 1996 won by Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen in Mens singles.
- Technical director of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) for two years from 2015 to 2017