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If you google Padukone, the search engine throws up over 1.6 million hits. Of these, a little over a million are for movie star Deepika Padukone, compared to less than half that for Prakash Padukone, her father, who transformed the profile of badminton in the country when he became the first Indian to win the All England title, the sports most prestigious tournament and one comparable to Wimbledon in its aura, in 1980.Padukones win came more than 100 years after badminton was introduced to, and then became the rage in, British India.On August 22, 1873, the Manchester Guardian carried a curious bit of news in an item on the British Empires Kashgar Mission. It said that the game of badminton had taken Indian society by storm. Proof of this was readily available in the pages of the Times of India of 1874. The newspapers correspondent from Mahabaleshwar reported that the hill town had gone badminton mad. The woods are deserted, and old and young spend their mornings and evenings in dark spots, playing this evidently fascinating game. The correspondent, however, disapproved of the obsession with badminton, saying that a good healthful gallop, or a walk was far more beneficial to the young, especially girls.The correspondents views evidently did not have too many takers, since badmintons popularity, especially in western India, grew by leaps and bounds.From the 1930s, an all India championship and a Western India championship were held regularly. Given the history of the games growth, some of the best Indian players were from the west and the north, with Prakash Nath, who got to the All England final in 1947, and Nandu Natekar being some of the finest of their time.Padukones home state of Mysore, as Karnataka was known till 1973, figured nowhere on the badminton map, however.His father, an employee with the state-run Indian Telephone Industries Ltd, was instrumental in his taking up badminton. But like most Indian sportspersons of the time, Padukone achieved what he did with little help from the state. He honed his skills in a wedding hall in the Canara Union, a religious and social centre for the Chitrapur Saraswats, the caste group to which he belonged, and at the Malleshwaram Associations court in Bangalore. According to his biographer, Dev Sukumar, the peculiar dimensions of the Canara Union hall, whose roof was 20 feet high, with girders at 17 feet, influenced Padukones playing style.From early on, Padukone showed prodigious talent on the court and as a 16-year-old he won both the senior and junior badminton nationals in 1971, a feat that has not been matched since. He had all the qualities that a newspaper correspondent in 1874 believed a good badminton player should have: the cool head, the bright eye, the firm wrist, the healthy physique.Yet no one expected him to scale the heights that he did in a sport dominated by the Indonesians, Malays, Danes, and subsequently the Chinese. When he won the All England, it was the first time, billiards excepted, that an Indian had won an individual sports premier global tournament.The Times of India reported of the reception he got when he returned to Bangalore: A huge crowd of relatives, friends and fans cheered him as he entered the airport terminal... Soon after the red carpet welcome, the sports hero... was taken in an open jeep... Prakash was garlanded profusely all along the 14km drive.It was typical of Padukones solidly middle-class background that one of the first things he did on reaching Bangalore, according to the newspaper, was to touch the feet of his 84-year-old grandfather. What had also gone unnoticed was that even while the All England tournament was on, Padukones family announced his wedding with Ujjala Karkal in the newspapers engagements column.In winning the All England, Padukone defeated two of the all-time greats of modern badminton - Morten Frost of Denmark, a four-time winner, in the semi-final, and the Indonesian legend Liem Swie King, a three-time winner, in the final.What marked Padukones style of play was his emphasis on touch and guile. Much like the dribbling skills of hockey legend Dhyan Chand or the elegance of Ranjitsinhji, it was the wristy play that beguiled opponents.In 1980, besides the All England, Padukone won the other two most important tournaments at the time, the Swedish and Danish Opens. Newspapers labelled his feat as a badminton Grand Slam. He followed it up by winning the World Cup in 1981.After losing to Padukone in the final of the 1980 Danish Open, Frost called his opponent the master of feigned shots. When I arrived on the scene, I was at first awed by the lightning-quick speed and power of the Chinese and Indonesians... Prakash was one of the few who had managed to provide some resistance to their domination with his wristy, deceptive and counterattacking style.After that, despite the occasional good performances until he called it a day in 1988, Padukone never scaled the heights of 1980. But his All England title had a lasting impact.Sukumar correctly, albeit with a touch of hyperbole, points out: The All England win did more than just enhance the countrys prestige. Within the country it created a revolution. It pitchforked badminton into national consciousness, making it on par with cricket and hockey. It created a reference point for Indian sporting history; henceforth, all sporting accomplishments would be measured against this.When Padukone gave up a secure job in the state-run Union Bank and turned professional about a year after the All England win, it served as proof to future players that if they were good enough they could survive without the states benevolence.The revolution wrought by Padukone inspired many of Indias future badminton stars. This was particularly true of Pullela Gopichand, the only other winner of the All England title from India. Prakash sir was somewhere there on the horizon for me, Gopichand recalled of his early years. I realised that that All England is the worlds most prized and premier badminton championship. The way people talked about it, I could sense it was something big.It was not just inspiration that Padukone provided to the next generation. He helped shape the future through the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, which began operations in 1994 at the Canara Union, the very same courts where he first learnt his game. Gopichand joined the academy in 1996 and spent a few years there and said that Prakash took pains to play with and train him individually. Not surprisingly, when Gopichand won the All England, Prakash was glued to the television, watching his one-time protégé emulate him.That link between former stars and the present generation that Padukone set a precedent for has continued with Gopichand and Saina Nehwal. Nehwal, who became the first Indian woman to achieve the world No. 1 ranking in badminton and win a bronze medal in the Olympics, trained under Gopichand at his academy in Hyderabad.Besides Nehwal there are several other Indian badminton stars, such as PV Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and Gurusai Dutt, who regularly win international tournaments. Their excellence in a game that has been around in India for nearly 150 years, and has always been very popular with the middle classes, can be credited to one man and his path-breaking win at the 1980 All England.Ronojoy Sen is the author of Nation at Play: A History of Sport in IndiaAir Max 90 Bestellen Schweiz . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Air Max Günstig Kaufen . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. http://www.schuheairmaxschweiz.com/ . -- Devin Hester is done returning kicks in Chicago. Air Max 720 Weiß . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. Air Max 97 Schweiz .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre.CHICAGO -- They have waited 108 years for a championship. So with this World Series on the verge of slipping away, the Chicago Cubs could not wait any longer.Manager Joe Maddon summoned closer Aroldis Chapman from the bullpen in the seventh inning for the first eight-out save of his big league career, a desperate move in a dire situation with the Cubs needing to hold off the Cleveland Indians in Game 5.As nervous fans fretted at Wrigley Field, the big Cuban left-hander fired his 100 mph heat over and over, preserving a 3-2 win Sunday night that cut Clevelands Series lead to 3-2.I didnt expect to come in so early, but I mentally prepared myself, Chapman said through a translator. I was ready to come in at a moments notice.The crowd of 41,711 erupted when Jose Ramirez, who had homered earlier, foul tipped a 101 mph offering at the outside corner into the glove of catcher Willson Contreras for the final out.A white flag with a blue W was raised atop Wrigley Field after a Series win for the first time since Oct. 8, 1945, in Game 6 over Detroit. Fans stayed long after the final out and sang Sweet Home Chicago as Cubs returned to the field for media interviews.High anxiety, first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. A lot of deep breaths. Every pitch gets bigger and bigger as the game goes on. Its unbelievable. Great win here. We sent these fans off with a win. Now we have to go to Cleveland and win.Chicago, which led the majors this year with 103 regular-season wins, will try to extend its season again Tuesday night when Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta faces Josh Tomlin. The Cubs are trying to become the first club to overcome a 3-1 Series deficit since the 1985 Kansas City Royals and the first to do it by winning Games 6 and 7 on the road since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.Seeking its first title since 1948, Cleveland is in search of its third-ever title and has won the championship at home just once, in 1920. Over 67,000 showed up at Progressive Field just to watch the three road games on the video board.Its going to be crazy. Its going to be nuts, first baseman Mike Napoli said. Theyre going to be pretty fired up, and theyre going to get us going.Chapman, obtained from the Yankees in July, hadnt pitched in the seventh inning since 2012. He took a chug of water from a plastic bottle on the left-field bullpen mound when Maddon called him in with a runner on.That was a big ask, and he answered, Indians manager Terry Francona said. That was impressive.Of Chapmans 42 pitches, 15 flew in at 100 mph or faster.Its something you cant normally do during the season without beating somebody up too badly, Maddon said. . But I talked to Chappy before the game. He was aware of being ready in the seventh inning. So we had that all in play.Chapman struck out four, raising his total to eight over five innings in three Series appearances.This guys used to just getting three outs, Cubs starter Jon Lester said. He was fired up. We were all fired up to get through that.With the crowd at the Friendly Confines desperate, Kris Bryant homered to start a three-run burst in the fourth off Trevor Bauer that gave Lester a 3-1 lead.dddddddddddd The Indians nicked Lester for a run in the sixth, and Carl Edwards Jr. took over to begin the seventh with a 3-2 edge.Chapman came in with a runner on second and one out and retired Roberto Perez on an inning-ending groundout with two on as fans screamed. After Rajai Davis stole second and third in the eighth, Francisco Lindor took a 101 mph pitch at the knees for an inning-ending called third strike, then stood in the batters box for nearly 20 seconds in anger and frustration.Chapman finished with a 1-2-3 ninth. He threw 35 fastballs, six sliders and one changeup.Lester, the Game 1 loser, improved to 4-1 in Series play by allowing two runs and six hits .Ramirez homered in the second to put the Indians ahead, and Cleveland closed within a run in the sixth when Davis singled, stole second scored on a two-out single by Lindor , who is hitting .421 in the Series.Bauer, his pinkie seemingly healed from a cut sustained while playing with a toy drone during the AL Championship Series, dropped to 0-2 in the Series, giving up three runs and six hits in four innings .After a pair of relatively balmy autumn nights on the North Side, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees at game time and a 10 mph win added chill. Maddon wore a Cubs ski hat with a blue pompom rather than a baseball cap.Bryant, in a 1-for-15 slide, led off the fourth by driving a fastball into the left-field bleachers, where a fan in the first row dropped it.Rizzo sent the next pitch off the ivy on the right-field wall for a double, admiring its flight before hustling, took third on Ben Zobrists single and came home with the go-ahead run when Addison Russell reached out and topped a pitch down the third-base line for an infield single.Jason Heyward took a called third strike, slumping Javier Baez dropped a bunt down the third-base line for a single that loaded the bases and Ross, a 39-year-old making perhaps his final big league start, hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead.Were writing our own history. Were making history. Why stop? Russell said. This is entertaining to us. Its fun, and we live for this.CARBON COPYRoss allowed Santanas second-inning foul pop to glance off his glove and Rizzo batted the ball in the air with his bare hand, then gloved it. It was similar to Game 6 in 1980, when Philadelphia first baseman Pete Rose grabbed Frank Whites foul pop after it nicked off catcher Bob Boone.WEB GEMHeyward grabbed onto the brick wall in the right-field corner in the third, then reached back to catch Bauers wind-blown foul fly.MOVING ONThis was the last game with the bullpens in foul territory at Wrigley, where new pens under the bleachers are to open next season. Zobrist had to climb the mound to catch Kipnis seventh-inning fly.similar to Game 6 in 1980, when Philadelphi] ' ' '