[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif] Gopichand regrets lack of infrastructure [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif] Chennai News [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif] Kolkata, May 19: Ace shuttler Pullela Gopichand today regretted the lack of badminton infrastructure in India, and called for team effort involving the government, associations and clubs to take the country ahead in sports. [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif]''The country can't go ahead in badminton in the absence of proper infrastructure. Medium quality shuttles, poor quality of courts and inadequate number of coaches stand in the way of development of the game,'' Gopichand told newspersons here. [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif]He said in India the system was a bit jumbled with neither the government nor the clubs taking full reponsibility in promoting the game. [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif]''Our system i7either like China where the government does everyting nor like European countries where clubs take full responsibility. [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif]''The government gives funds, but the support it gives is still inadequate. The federation and associations are working, but they need to do more,'' he said. [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif]The former All England champion said though the system in India had improved over the last 15-20 years, it was still primitive compared to that in the advanced countries. [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif]Referring to China, Indonesia and Malaysia, he said that these countries had an excellent system of grooming talent. [/font] [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif]To a question whether it was necessary to have parallel associations at the national and state levels to promote the game, the 31-year-old player said ''We need to work together. We need to work as a team for the sake of players. That's the way to go forward.'' (Agencies) [/font]
