SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 27: Jharkhand Badminton Association (JBA) secretary K Prabhakar Rao has been nominated as manager-cum-coach of the Indian contingent for the 13th edition BWF Para-Badminton World Championships scheduled to be held at Tokyo, Japan from November 1 to 6.
The Indian team will leave for Tokyo on Saturday (October 29), according to the official of Para-Badminton India.
Rao is also the joint secretary of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and chairman of Para-Badminton India (PBI). He was the first from East India to head Para-Badminton India and BAI had expressed confidence that Para-Badminton would excel in the International arena given his past experiences.
K Prabhakar Rao, who guided the Indian team in Tokyo Paralympics 2022 to win record medals, expressed confidence that India will perform to its expectation and be able to bag at least 4-5 medals in this Paralympics games.
Rao has already discharged his responsibility as observer and administrator of the Indian team for various age groups including seniors for domestic and international tournaments on several occasions in the past.
Rao was nominated by BAI as the Team Manager of Para-Badminton India for the Total BWF Para-Badminton World Championship 2019 held in Basel, Switzerland from August 20-25, 2019. He was also nominated by BAI as team manager of the Indian badminton team that had participated in the Yonex Dutch Junior International held in Haarlem, Netherlands 2019 and the Yonex German Junior International tournament held in Berlin, in March 2020.
Officials of the Jharkhand Badminton Association (JBA) East Singhbhum Badminton Association (ESBA), and Dhanbad Badminton Association (DBA) have congratulated Prabhakar Rao for his national responsibility as manager cum coach of the Indian team and expressed hope that Indian players would perform as per potential under the guidance of Rao.