Navy officer wins bronze medal in Seniors 55+ Singles at World Racketlon Championship
Panaji : Indian Navy officer Captain Ashutosh Pednekar has added yet another feather to his cap by winning a bronze medal in the Seniors 55+ Singles at the World Racketlon Championship in Rotterdam, Netherlands, held from August 5 to 9, 2026.
Though he narrowly missed a gold medal by just four points, the bronze medal completed an impressive career set for Pednekar at the global event; he previously secured gold in 2018 and 2022, and silver in 2019. With this win, he becomes one of the few athletes to hold a complete set of World Racketlon Championship medals, bringing immense pride to both Goa and the Indian Navy.
Racketlon is an intensive combination sport where players compete sequentially across four racquet disciplines—Table Tennis, Badminton, Squash, and Tennis—with each set played to 21 points. The total aggregate points across all four sports decide the winner.
Born into an athletic family in Panaji, Pednekar’s journey began on local courts. His father, a former Professor and Principal at Government Polytechnic, Panaji, and mother were avid
badminton and tennis players. Training at Panaji’s Campal Indoor Stadium under national coach Roshan Lal Nahar, Pednekar dominated Goa’s badminton circuit from 1983 to 1994, remaining the undisputed state singles champion across junior and senior divisions for over a decade. His sister, Leena Pednekar, shared the family flair, winning multiple state titles and recently securing a bronze at the World Senior Badminton Championship in Thailand.
Academically gifted, Pednekar studied at People’s High School and Dhempe College, Miramar, before graduating as the batch topper in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering from Goa Engineering College (GEC), Farmagudi, in 1993.
Joining the Indian Navy in 1994 as a Naval Armament Inspection Officer, Pednekar has completed over 31 years of distinguished service across R&D, quality control, and training roles in Mumbai, Pune, Visakhapatnam, and New Delhi. He has been honoured twice with commendations by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (2002, 2008) and once by the Chief of Naval Staff in 2022.
Parallel to his military duties, he honed his skills across all racquet sports, winning multiple inter-services and national veteran titles in squash and badminton. As joint secretary of the Naval Sports Control Board, he now helps oversee training for over 550 naval athletes across 24 sports disciplines.
Pednekar made history in 2018 at Zurich by becoming the first Indian to win a World Racketlon Championship title (gold in Men’s 45+ Singles, along with a bronze in the Open Amateur division). In 2019, he captained the Indian contingent to its maiden Challenger Cup team title in Leipzig while claiming a silver in singles.
Post-pandemic, he achieved an unprecedented treble at the 2022 Vienna World Championships, sweeping gold across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
