U. Vimal Kumar

For the Filipino cricketer, see Vimal Kumar (cricketer).

U. Vimal Kumar
Personal information
Country	India
Born	(1962-11-19) 19 November 1962 (age 62) Trivandrum, Kerala
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	78 kg (172 lb)
Handedness	Right
Medal record Men's badminton Representing   India Asian Games 1986 Seoul Men's team
BWF profile

U. Vimal Kumar (born 19 November 1962) is an Indian former badminton player. He won the Indian National title consecutively for two years, 1988 and 1989. ^{[1] [2]} He also served as Chief National Coach of India. ^[3] He is the Co Founder, Director and Chief Coach in Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. ^[4] He was awarded the Dronacharya Award in 2019. ^[5] He was the bronze medalist in badminton at the 1986 Asian Games in the Men's team event.

Career

During his career he won French Open in 1983 & 1984 and Welsh International Open in 1988 & 1991. Vimal also represented India at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and was ranked within the top 20 in the world. He was the National chief coach of the Indian badminton squad for several years. He quit the post in 2006 to concentrate on coaching youngsters at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. ^[6] Now, he is currently coaching star player Saina Nehwal in Bangalore.He also coaches Parupalli Kashyap. Malayalam film actor Kalidas Jayaram is his nephew.

Achievements

IBF International

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1983	French Open	Jürgen Gebhardt	15–5, 15–1	Winner
1984	French Open	Tariq Farooq	10–15, 15–6, 15–2	Winner
1987	Bells Open	Torben Carlsen	15–6, 5–15, 9–15	Runner-up
1987	Welsh International	Steve Baddeley	Walkover	Winner
1989	Amor International	Claus Overbeck	15–12, 13–18, 1–15	Runner-up
1990	Portugal International	Peter Smith	15–8, 12–15, 3–15	Runner-up
1990	Strasbourg International			Winner
1990	Welsh International	Iain Sydie	15–11, 15–5	Winner
1991	Strasbourg International			Winner

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1990	Portugal International	Clive Palmer	Nitin Panesar Steve Smith	15–7, 16–17, 5–15	Runner-up

References

1. Men's Singles National Champions
2. "Senior Nationals winners list". Badmintion.in. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
3. "Top shuttlers lack drive, says coach". The Tribune. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
4. "Management". Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
5. "Vimal Kumar - The Drona who trained some of the top stars of Indian badminton". Kalyan Ashok. The Bridge. 5 September 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
6. "Vimal Kumar quits". The Hindu . 25 April 2006. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2009.

External links

• U. Vimal Kumar at BWF Badminton.com
• U. Vimal Kumar at BWF .TournamentSoftware.com (archived, alternate link )
• Vimal Kumar at Olympics.com
• Vimal Kumar at Olympedia
• V. Kumar at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)