Deepika Padukone sizzles badminton court

Mumbai, August 1 : Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Soha Ali Khan enthralled sports lovers with their badminton skills at a tournament in Mumbai on Thursday.

Deepika teamed up with her father Prakash Padukone who happens to be the best badminton player India has ever produced while Soha played with Aparna Popat.

Deepika seemed overjoyed to participate in the Tata Open badminton tournament.

"I am very happy to come here. I love to play badminton. I have been playing badminton since my childhood, so I think I'll enjoy participating in it a lot and I guess I am going to play also here," said Deepika.

Badminton runs in Deepika's blood. She played at the State level in Bangalore until her mid-teens.

Her paternal grandfather Ramesh also represented Mysore in the nationals during fifties and early sixties.

Prakash, who was the All England champion (considered to be the world crown) and also won numerous other tournaments around the world, was satisfied with her daughter Deepika's performance.

"She was quiet good. She was not the no. one, she was no. three or four in the state but she used to play very regularly until she reached the tenth standard but she has not played for a long time...I mean after that she went into modelling and then got into films," said Prakash Padukone.

Soha, who has always been a big sports lover, was excited at playing along with the professionals.

"I have always loved badminton. I played it in school a lot. I played it in university. I haven't ever played it at such a professional level before with the professional players like Prakash Padukone and Deepika Padukone. It was great fun because I am a huge fan of the sport," said Soha.

Deepika, who has already impressed her fans by her screen presence made them even more impressed by her performance on the badminton court.

ANI