NIRAJ PRABHU
PANAJI
Himanta Biswa Sarma has been re-elected unopposed as the president of Badminton Association of India (BAI) during the AGM and elections held at Calangute on Tuesday. Goa Badminton Association (GBA) president, Narahar Thakur was re-elected unanimously as BAI joint-secretary.
In what comes as a big boost to the state badminton associations across the country is the BAI decision to grant financial assistance of Rs five lakh per year, for the development of the sport.
After the elections, Sarma addressed the media, saying: “Badminton has entered into an important and interesting phase. We want to help our players, state associations to the maximum possible. We want to set up new academies. Every association will get Rs five lakh, and tournament prize money will also be provided to the state bodies. We will immediately call executive committee meeting and come out with a vision document. (Meanwhile), Goa has been allotted national veterans tournament for the year.”
Meanwhile, Ajay Singhania of Haryana Badminton Association got elected as General Secretary after defeating K K Sharma of Rajasthan Badminton Association. Former Tamil Nadu Badminton Association president Anbumani Ramadoss was elected as the treasurer uncontested.
GBA president Thakur hailed the significant decision of financial assistance. “We will get substantial amount of Rs 5 lakh and this will help us to come out with a scheme to assist our players. Some of our players travel to other states to play, we can help them with travelling etc. We have a BAI-stipulated criteria to spend these grants on. This is a very good decision by BAI,” Thakur told The Goan.
India chief coach P Gopichand, who is the secretary of Telangana Badminton Association, also attended the AGM. Ahead of his flight to Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the most decorated former Indian badminton player-turned-coach, believes that Indians can go on to have a memorable outing Down Under.
“We won five medals in the last CWG and I do hope we better that this time around. Having said that, I think individual players from countries like Malaysia, England and Canada are strong. But we are a strong nation, and hopefully we can come back with a good number of medals,” says the supremely-fit 44-year-old former All England Open champion.
According to Gopichand, India has bright future in the sport. “Badminton as a sport is growing over the last few years in the country. I believe a lot more youngsters are playing and there is a lot more talent at the grassroots. With the number growing up as compared to years ago, I am sure that we will go higher,” said the 2009 Dronacharya Awardee.
Goan shuttler Anura Prabhudesai, who is India’s No 1 ranked player on the national ranking circuit, came in for praise from the very modest Gopichand. “I saw her play at the Nationals. She is quite a good talent and seemed like a very hardworking girl on the court. I believe she definitely has the potential to do very well,” said Gopi.
Like Anura, there are many younger players coming up but Gopichand preferred to keep the names to himself. “ I don’t want to take their names, but in general overall there are a lot of prospects not only from the academy but across the country. I am sure in the coming years we will see good results not only in traditional men’s singles and women’s singles areas but also in the doubles categories as well. Couple of them have been Chirag (Shetty) and Satwik (Sairaj), who have done very well to get into top-20 in the world. I am sure with the kind of performances they have put in last few tournaments, they will rise very quickly,” asserted Gopichand.
India have done exceedingly well recently in world badminton events with K Srikanth (World No 2), HS Prannoy (No 12), P V Sindhu (No 3) displaying tremendous belief. Gopichand feels that healthy competition amongst the players is lifting their game up.
“I think it is all always good to have more numbers (players)...more competition domestically because each one is trying to raise the bar up for themselves. That’s been the case. It is great to see the senior players wanting to hang on while young players make inroads. So this competition (among players) is good for Indian badminton,” feels Gopichand.
