Badminton legend Morten Frost to conduct clinic for coaches

Bangalore, Oct 12 (UNI) Four-time All England Champion Morten Frost Hansen of Denmark will conduct a three-day badminton coaching clinic for players and coaches of Karnataka from October 16 at Karnataka Badminton Association's Courts here.

The Badminton legend, accompanied by his wife Charlotte Zwicky and daughter Josephine Frost Zwicky, would arrive here on October 14. His visit to India comes after a gap of 23 years. Morten, during his last visit to Bangalore had played an exhibition match with former All England Champion Prakash Padukone to raise funds for building 'Prakash Courts' in Malleswaram, in the city.

Speaking to newspersons former national badminton coach Vimal Kumar said Morten, besides conducting clinics, would also play exhibition matches with Prakash and former internationals Uday Pawar, Vinod Kumar and a few games with club members and interact with children, parents and coaches.

Padukone said Morten was at one time the greatest badminton player in the world. He spent 12 years in the top three in the world rankings. He had won All England Open Badminton Championship in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1987. Morten was also European Champion in 1984 and 1986. He won the Nordic championship each year for six years from 1978 to 1984 and again in 1988.

Morten had distinction of winning all the invitational Grand Prix tournaments at least once, including Denmark Open. He was the Champion from 1980 to 1986 and in 1989 and he represented his country from 1976 to 1991, longer than anyone else.

After his playing years, Morten took up coaching the Danish National Team. He was elected to the IBF Hall of Fame in 1998.

Recollecting his days with Morten, Padukone said that but for him he would not achieved what he has achieved now in the field of Badminton. ''Six years from 1980 I played with him in Denmark. It was a great opportunity for me to learn about the game and I succeeded in making a mark in the Badminton.'' Replying to a question, Vimal said the clinic was restricted to coaches and players from Karnataka since to invite from other states, a permission from Badminton Federation of India was necessary.

''There were queries from neighbouring States, unfortunately we cannot accommodate them due to this reason,'' he added.

MORE UNI MSP RS PDS HS1525