After gracing the post of founder and managing director for more than three decades, iconic Prakash Padukone stepped away from Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA).

The 70-year-old badminton legend has already joined a new venture named Padukone School of Badminton (PSB), which has been introduced by his daughter, actress Deepika Padukone. PSB has also started centres in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. While Prakash Padukone is the mentor of PSB, former India shuttler Aditya Prakash is the head coach.

As its aftermath, PPBA’s name has been changed to Centre for Badminton Excellence (CBE).

“Prakash wanted to retire and concentrate on other ventures, primarily the Padukone School of Badminton (PSB), which focuses on grassroots-level badminton programs,” CBE’s head coach U Vimal Kumar revealed.

PPBA, co-founded in 1994 by Padukone, Vimal and Vivek Kumar, will continue to operate from the Centre for Sports Excellence, Bengaluru, with its current coaching team led by Vimal Kumar and supported by former India international Sagar Chopda, DK Sen (Lakshya Sen’s father), Umendra Singh Rana and international coaches Yong Sung Yoo and Irwansyah Adi Pratama.

Lakshya Sen, the most famous product of PPBA, will continue to train at CBE with South Korean coach Yong while two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will resume training with Indian women’s coach Irwansyah after she recovers from injury. Other Indian badminton players who train at CBE are Ayush Shetty, Kiran George, Devika Sihag and Isha Rani Barua.

Prakash, while reacting to The Indian Express on his decision to quit PPBA, said, “This has not been an easy decision; it is one I arrived at after considerable reflection and after carefully weighing all the pros and cons. It was a privilege to work alongside the coaching teams, athletes, and partners over the past 3 decades. I remain deeply grateful for the trust and collaboration extended to me.”