Lakshya Sen, Srihari Nataraj Are Pride Of PDCSE, Bengaluru Created By Vivek Kumar

Vivek Kumar, Founder & Director of the Padukone-Dravid Centre For Sports Excellence (PDCSE) near Bengaluru city is the go-to man for the Central, State governments and Corporates to create and finance sports infrastructure without much capital expenditure. Four years into existence, the institution for training elite sports persons and budding talent has already created a buzz around the development of Lakshya Sen at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, and Olympic swimmer Srihari Nataraj at its Olympic size pool, which operate within the facility named after two legends, Prakash Padukone and Rahul Dravid. Vivek Kumar, a former India junior badminton player, has invested around Rs 100 crore which includes 17-acre land. The PDCSE has facilities for athletics, badminton, swimming, 10 m shooting, football, squash, table tennis, volleyball, basketball and cricket. “The 10 m shooting range was created in the storage area for cricket. It cost about Rs15 lakh. Abhinav Bindra wanted a shooting range for the refugee shooters preparing for the Olympics. We spent more money to get the latest technology based swimming pool in order to reduce maintenance cost,” revealed Vivek, related to the Kirloskar family. Former India player, Vimal Kumar, who trained Sen to become a world-class player says: “Full credit to Vivek for creating the facility for India’s sports persons. The PDCSE is a boon for all sports.”