Prakash Vijayanath (born 7 November 1994) is a South African

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player.

Career

Vijayanath was born in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

but moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

when he was four, and started playing badminton at age six in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. In 2013, he was selected among the 14 best African players to be a member of the Road to Rio Project organised by the BWF and

Badminton Confederation of Africa Badminton Africa (BA) is the governing body of badminton in Africa. It is one of the 5 continental bodies under the flag of the Badminton World Federation. It now has 46 member countries and 2 associate members. It was formerly called the Badmint ...

, to provide financial and technical support to African players and the lead-up to the

2016 Olympic Games The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. He received a Sport Scholarship, supported by Trinity's Global Relations Office studying Computer Science and Business in

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. Alongside his studies, he trained at the Badminton Ireland Academy with the Irish high performance squad based at Marino under the guidance of coach Daniel Magee. In August 2013, he won the mixed team gold medal and the men's singles silver medal at the

African Badminton Championships The African Badminton Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) to crown the best badminton players in Africa. For the team event there is the African Badminton Cup of Nations. This is not to be confuse ...

. In December 2013, he was the semi-finalist at the South Africa International tournament. In 2014, he was selected to represent South Africa badminton at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland. He became the runner-up of South Africa International in mixed doubles event with his partner Stacey Doubell and the semi-finalist of Zambia International tournament in men's singles event. In 2015, he was nominated for the Badminton World Federation (

BWF BWF may refer to: Sports organisations Badminton * Badminton World Federation, an international governing body for badminton Professional wrestling * Brazilian Wrestling Federation, a Brazilian Professional wrestling promotion. * British Wrestling ...

) Athletes' Commission, to be a bridge between Africa and the global badminton community. ''"For the success of the BWF Athletes' Commission it is essential to have global representation. African badminton has come a long way and to keep this momentum going it is important to have the support from the global community"'' he said. In February, he became the semi-finalist of

Uganda International The Uganda International is an international badminton tournament held in Uganda organised by Uganda Badminton Association. In 2008, this tournament have been sanctioned by Badminton World Federation as International Series rated event with total ...

, and in August–September, he won silver medals in men's singles and mixed team events at the

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

. In 2018, he made his second appearance at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Achievements

All-Africa Games

''Men's singles''

African Championships

''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series

''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed Doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF Future Series The BWF Future Series is a grade 3 and level 3 tournaments part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and International Series (level 2), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

References

External links

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Prakash Vijayanath - Forbes Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vijayanath, Prakash 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Madurai Indian emigrants to South Africa South African male badminton players Badminton players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games badminton players for South Africa Badminton players at the 2015 African Games African Games silver medalists for South Africa African Games silver medalists in badminton 21st-century South African sportsmen