PANAJI
Goa’s Sandeep Heble has taken charge as General Secretary of the Badminton India Technical Officials Association (BITOA), the national body representing nearly 300 technical officials, including National and International level officials.
Heble, a National BAI Match Control official and former Secretary of Goa Badminton Association, is part of the 24-member Executive Committee headed by Badminton Asia Referee Dhananjay (Uday) Sane of Maharashtra. The association works towards bringing technical officials from across India onto a common platform and supporting their development through training, education, welfare and other assistance. “Rajiv Mehta, Badminton Asia Referee and our Founder President, laid the foundations and helped BITOA grow with his dedicated efforts. It is now our responsibility to take that work forward and build on the strong foundation he has created,” said Heble.
At its Executive Committee meeting held on Friday, the new team discussed and finalised several initiatives aimed at strengthening technical officiating across the country. “We have planned periodic training sessions to continuously upgrade the knowledge of technical officials in umpiring, refereeing, match control and other areas of badminton officiating. We have also decided to hold the Convention of Badminton India Technical Officials in Goa in January 2027. As an immediate initiative, an online Umpires Clinic will be conducted from September 18 to 20, which will be particularly useful for officials preparing for BAI certification courses and workshops,” said Heble.
Heble recently conducted a Match Control Workshop in Goa with 24 participants, besides a three-day District Umpires Clinic in Kudal, Maharashtra, attended by 26 participants. Congratulating Heble, GBA President Manoj Patil said, “We want to increase our pool of technical officials in Goa and I am delighted that Sandeep is showing such commitment to work in this direction and is now a part of the BITOA Team as Secretary. This will greatly benefit our aspiring officials in Goa.” More details about BITOA can be availed from its website, www.bitoa.org.
