India Badminton

Frustration is justified?

Just finished reading a thought-provoking article on badminton in India.

Shuttlers have little choice but to play a different game
May 23, 2011
Firstpost.com

Two years ago at the senior nationals in Guwahati, a woman shuttler in her early 20s asked an official of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) who was passing by, “Should I start thinking about getting married, instead of playing badminton?”

Dhanya Nair’s frustration was understandable. She had reached the singles semifinals and doubles final in the last edition of the nationals and was looking forward to make a mark in the domestic circuit to cement her place in the India team and get more international exposure.

But just one senior-ranking tournament was held between the two nationals and the rustiness in her game and the frustration of a bad practice session triggered the outburst.

The situation hasn’t changed since then. The domestic circuit is in shambles and the second-rung players begin every season unsure about the number of tournaments they will get to play.


I would encourage anyone interested to read the full story:
http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/shuttlers-have-little-choice-but-to-play-a-different-game-13819.html

 

"...one-step forward and several backward..."

Is it a case of one-step forward and several backward for BAI?


Read the full article here: http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/is-i...rward-and-several-backward-for-bai-17405.html

Excerpts:

"Verma had ruled the sport’s apex body for 14 years and though there were more positives than negatives to speak about during his tenure, the general consensus was that he had outlived his utility and there was a need for fresh ideas at the top to take the sport ahead.

"More than Verma, the badminton fraternity was fed up with his ‘kitchen cabinet’ that ran the day-to-day show and his resignation was looked upon as an opportunity to make BAI a more professional organisation.

"But the last three months have only created a feeling of disillusionment among those connected to the sport and I won’t be surprised if it becomes an apt case of ‘Out of frying pan and into the fire.’

"In fact, the Executive Committee is still to accept Verma’s resignation, a pre-requisite to issue a circular for the election.

"But then, names may change but the attitude of administrators will hardly be different. It is after all about grabbing power and not about the game."

 

That's fairly old news, George!

 

Where did Rs 63 lakh go? BAI has no answer

Where did Rs 63 lakh go? BAI has no answer
Jul 19, 2011

Full report: http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/where-did-rs-63-lakh-go-bai-has-no-answer-43786.html

Excerpts:

...The three-year deal with Premier Brands was worth Rs 7.5 crore (approximately $1.55 million US :cobalt) with the company paying the BAI Rs 2.5 crore each to facilitate annual contract with top shuttlers in the country on the lines of the Indian cricket board. Out of the Rs 2.5 crore, about Rs 50 lakh was to be used to increase the prize money for domestic tournaments.

The company promptly paid the BAI the first installment of Rs 63 lakh (approximately $1,40,000 US :cobalt) and all those associated with the sport were hoping that the partnership would lead to more “professionalism” in the running of the sport.

But one and half years after the deal was struck, not a single BAI official can explain where Rs 63 lakh have disappeared. According to the details given by outgoing treasurer Rajinder Kalsi to the BAI AGM on 2 July, the association does not have any money in its coffers and he is unable to submit the account for the last two years since he hasn’t been provided with any bills of expenditure from the president’s office (VK Verma was the president of BAI during that period).

...With Verma in jail over alleged irregularities in awarding contracts in his capacity as the Director General of Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, the BAI members can continue to put the entire blame on him but no one is bothered about the players.

...Right now, many players are struggling to raise enough funds to play more tournaments to improve their ranking which would ensure them entry in the Super Series or Grand Prix Gold events, which offer lucrative prize money and recognition.

Instead, they spend considerable time trying to generate funds before every tour that not only hampers their preparation but also takes a toll on their pockets if they fail to raise the required amount.

 

Making the right moves

Making the right moves
July 29, 2011
AVINASH NAIR

Full report: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/article2303502.ece

Excerpts:

Gunther Huber is an authority amongst coaches, and there is no doubting it. The 61-year-old German is a former development and performance director of the World Badminton Federation.

...“In India, there is a system, but it's not structured.

...Now, I'm getting first-hand knowledge. I plan to give my inputs and suggest corrective measures to coaches,” he says.

...Huber contends that if there is something any player needs to know, the coaches should know it first. “Only then will he/she be able to impart it to the players. Coaches will have to adapt to the changing times quickly and allow it to trickle down to the wards,” he adds.

 

Off to London to win a title

Off to London to win a title

Naveen Kalia, TNN | Aug 1, 2011, 12.50PM IST
Full report: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...London-to-win-a-title/articleshow/9441160.cms

Excerpts:

...Pranav will play alongside international stars like Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. And the first thing he could say while talking to TOI was that he has been dreaming of participating in this championship for a long time. "I have been training since I was 8 and my aim has been to bring laurels to the country and to my city. I am excited about the opportunity to prove my ability," the 19-year-old said.

..."There is a huge need for sponsors to come forward and provide funds so that potential players can be groomed. There are many badminton tournaments that are sponsored by Badminton Association of India but there are also many others for which players have to spend a lot of money to participate."

 

‘Preparations have been good'

[h=1]‘Preparations have been good'[/h]
The Hindu
HYDERABAD, August 3, 2011
V. V. Subrahmanyam

Full report: http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/article2319791.ece

Excerpts:

India's chief National coach P. Gopi Chand is happy with the preparations of the players for the World badminton championship, to be held in London from August 8. “The preparations have been really good and the players are in the right frame of mind.

The mood at the training session was upbeat. “There is a very good chance of someone coming up with a special performance. I can feel the intensity of the preparations. And, more importantly, the Indians are no longer push-overs in a World championship,” said Gopi.“All I am hoping for is the desired focus and consistency from players like Saina to breach the Chinese wall in badminton,” said India's chief coach.

 

Petty politics hands a big loss to indian badminton

Bhaskar Babu has been instrumental in spotting and training many top badmintonn players. Yet again, it appears Indian badminton has shot itself in the foot by playing petty politics. Read on...

From hero to zero: The game shuttlers play
Jul 25, 2011


Full story: http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/from-hero-to-zero-the-game-shuttlers-play-47587.html

Excerpts:

...Babu, who started his coaching career back in 1987 as a SAI employee, was brought into the national coaches panel when Gopi Chand took over as the national coach in 2006. His hard task master approach did not go down well with many players at the camp, but Gopi Chand utilised him well to execute the training plans he had for Saina and Kashyap during his absence or on tours.


A tiff between Gopi Chand and Saina provided Babu with his first real opportunity to get out of the shadow of the chief national coach and create a niche for himself. Though Babu took over the reins of training Saina and Kashyap from February itself – after the duo wrote a letter to SAI to depute him in Hyderabad to coach them – he continued to maintain a low profile and let the limelight be on the national coach.

...With a whip of a second wing to his career, Babu moved his family from Vijaywada to Hyderabad and began planning for the Olympics before everything came crashing down once the news of the tiff became public and Gopi Chand and Saina decided to work out an amicable solution.

...The indifferent treatment from Saina at the Sudirman Cup in China proved to be the last nail in the coffin and Babu had to pack his bags from the national camp and return to the Saroor Nagar SAI centre.
Now, the man, who was literally a shadow of Saina and Kashyap on the national and international circuit since 2006, is looking after the training of 40-odd beginners, about 40 kilometres from the Gopi Chand Academy.

...His name was also dropped from the panel of coaches for the recent national camp and it was clear that his application for the Dronacharya award would have no backers.

...He has also avoided attending any national or international tournaments being played in the country since then — preferring to stick to his self-imposed exile just like he did after parting ways with Chetan. And at 56, it is unclear whether he would have the hunger to spot the right talent and produce another player of Chetan’s calibre.

 

Indian badminton loses a valuable servant of the game

Saina loses a mentor, and India an unsung hero
Aug 10, 2011

Full report: http://www.firstpost.com/sports/saina-loses-a-mentor-and-india-an-unsung-hero-58085.html

Excerpts:

When Saina Nehwal takes the court to play her first match of the World Championships, she’ll say a silent prayer – not for victory but for a 69-year-old gentleman Mir Mahboob Ali, the man who introduced her to the game of badminton.

Mahboob Ali, whose demise in Hyderabad last week went unnoticed by the media at large just like his coaching career, had schooled Saina in the basics of the game much before the likes of Pullela Gopichand took over and guided her to the top of world badminton.


In fact, Mahboob Ali not only helped Saina along, but he also played a huge part in the careers of Jwala Gutta, Shurti Kurien and PV Sindhu, too. The fact that they are all among the best in the country shows that he certainly had an eye for talent. But perhaps before last week, I am not sure, all the four had ever thought about the link.

In an era where coaches line up to tom-tom their association with players once they become celebrities, Mahboob Ali hardly ever spoke about the time when he held the hands of these star performers and taught them their first lessons in badminton.

The list of coaches who claim to have trained Saina must be longer than her international titles. But many in the Hyderabad badminton circle were unaware that the Commonwealth Gold medalist had learnt her basics from Mahboob Ali, till her mother one day made it a point to name the veteran coach during a chat with reporters.

“She (Saina) used to train for an hour privately under Nizam Club’s Mahboob Ali sir alongside her training at Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium,” Saina’s mother Usha Rani had said.


Mahboob Ali’s demise also reminded me of a few coaches who selflessly devoted valuable years of their life to build the careers of their students and then eased into obscurity after their wards moved on to join the bigger academies. Sadly, most of these coaches never bothered pleasing the administrators and hence, hardly ever got their dues.

These men may not be well-known figures, but they are in every sense architects of India’s badminton revolution. They work tirelessly without ever asking for reward. For them, nothing is more joyous than watching someone take up the sport of badminton. That is all they ask for – not for fame or money but just the simple joy of showing someone what the sport is all about… which is why we need more Mahboob Alis, Gores and Pradhans to churn out champions, and not people like Suresh Kalmadi.

 

Saina, Jwala to miss NSCI Badminton
PTI | Aug 18, 2011, 05.46PM IST

Full story: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...o-miss-NSCI-Badminton/articleshow/9649550.cms

Excerpts:

Top national shuttlers - Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, PV Sindhu, Arvind Bhat and Chetan Anand - will not take part in the NSCI All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament to be held from August 27-31.

"Saina (women's world no. 5) is not taking part because of her schedule of preparations for the London Olympics, while (world championship women's doubles bronze winner) Jwala Gutta would also be absent as the tournament clashes with the Arjuna Awards ceremony in New Delhi on August 29," said Pradeep Gandhe, president of the Maharashtra Badminton Association.

"P V Sindhu had earlier entered the event but then withdrew (to prepare for the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Isle of Man from September 7). Bhat is recovering from an injury and Anand is busy fulfilling contractual obligations for his club in Europe.

 

BAI sending mixed signals, playing favourites?

Is the BAI sending out mixed signals to fans, players, and supporters? Is it playing favourites? Or is it just completely oblivious of its own duties and responsibilities, when it comes to promoting the game and its people in India?

Read this article about how the BAI website is not fulfilling one of its basic functions: providing information that will benefit BAI and the game in the country.

BAI website gives Jwala-Ponnappa WC bronze a miss
August 22, 2011
Full report: http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/bai-website-gives-jwala-ponnappa-wc-bronze-a-miss-66094.html

Excerpts:

...doubles stars Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who created history last Sunday by winning a medal in the World Badminton championship after a gap of 28 years. While the two girls made news across the country, it seems the Badminton Association of India (BAI), or more precisely their official website, is completely unaware of their heroics.

Even after a week, the official website is completely oblivious to the performance of the Indian contingent in London and is more bothered about publishing the internal circulars and other mundane stuff like appointment of technical officials and other committees.

The attitude of those maintaining the website is no different from the overall approach of the sports administrators, who are happy holding on to their chairs rather than looking to be proactive to popularise the game.
...Today, there are many players who have been performing consistently at the highest level and there are at least three disciplines in which India can aim to win medals in major international tournaments.

Such a situation should be an open invitation for any sports administrator to try and popularise the sport and what can be a better way than to build the marketing strategy around the players, whom the fans and even the corporate world can relate to.
...Even after the Commonwealth Games, where India won two gold medals and a team silver, the association members indulged in the capital instead of arranging an event or a sponsorship deal as a token of appreciation for the players.
But what can one expect from an association which has still not bothered to put in place a basic mechanism of providing the media with the results of domestic and international tournaments, which is very important to keep the sport and sportsperson in public memory.

In these circumstances, expecting the association to promote the cause of players by building an interface between fans and sportspersons seems to be a distant dream. But the very least a player can expect is a mention of his/her achievement on the website and a word of appreciation from those running the sport.

 

Article by P. Gopichand

Badminton’s unlikely coming of age
Aug 28, 2011

http://www.asianage.com/life-and-style/badminton-s-unlikely-coming-age-008

Excerpt:

Badminton has changed since I used to play it. The present point format and the tournament structure are both quite good. The prize money too has seen a good rise and the fact that badminton has now become a permanent feature at the Olympics has helped small countries in taking up the sport.

Another change has been in the playing conditions. Earlier we’d play on concrete surfaces, which were a strain on the body. Tournaments now seem to be more organised and standardised. Media coverage of the sport has increased tremendously. Players tend to be more media friendly today, revealing more of their personalities. Now, players’ lives are followed outside the sport as well, imparting them a celebrity status, which is great for the sport. But a more commercial side has appeared as well.

 

Mumbai will try to host a SS event next year

Full story: http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_super-badminton-series-in-city_1580142
Published: Saturday, Aug 27, 2011, 8:00 IST

Excerpts:

The Worli-based National Sports Club of India (NSCI) plans to host a Super Series badminton tournament in April next year. The club will be hosting the All-India senior ranking badminton tournament beginning on Saturday.

...“The ranking tournament is a big tournament but it is just the start. I believe that the NSCI courts are some of the best in the country. We want to host a Super Series tournament here in April next year and then we want to try for the 2013 World Championship as well,” said Kapila.

 

BAI picks team for China Masters

Mumbai: A 13-member team, comprising seven men and six women, was selected by the Badminton Association of India to participate in the Li Ning China Masters Super Series tournament to be held in Changzhou, Jiangsu, China from September 13-18.

The eight-member selection committee, with BAI president Dr Akhilesh Dasgupta as its chairman, also selected the teams for the subsequent Yonex Japan Open Super Series event in Tokyo from September 20-25 and the preceding Yonex Chinese Taipei Open in Taiwan from September 6-11.

The other members of the selection panel are: Pradeep Gandhe, TPS Puri, P Gopichand, Abhin Shyam Gupta, Madhumita Bisht, Vimal Kumar and Dr Vijai Sinha, the convernor and BAI general secretary.
The teams would have a short camp at Bangalore and Hyderabad prior to taking part in these tournaments, according to Dr Sinha.

 

Mumbai hoping to host World Badminton Championship

Posted: Sun Sep 11 2011, 11:34 hrs
Full report: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mumbai-hoping-to-host-world-badminton-championship/844886/

Excerpts:


Maharashtra Badminton Association, with former international player Pradeep Gandhe at the helm, plans to bring the World Championships to the city soon to raise the profile of the sport here.

As an ideal curtain-raiser for the mega-event, the association has decided to try and get the hosting rights for a Super Series event prior to it, according to Gandhe.

“We are planning to host the World Badminton Championship, and an ideal scenario for us would be to host it either in 2013-end or May 2014,” said Gandhe, the MBA chief and the former doubles expert.

"...We have the infrastructure, inclination, team-work, besides the co-operation of the NSCI, and the BAI..."

“The infrastructure here has been appreciated by badminton legend Rudy Hartono, also a committee member of the BWF, who visited the stadium in June.”

 

This is a great, must-read article for anyone who wants to know how much badminton is catching on in India. And that is good news for world Badminton, because it means the second-most populous country, also the largest democracy in the world, and an upcoming economic powerhouse can give our game a much-needed boost and popularity.

http://openthemagazine.com/article/...ampaign=Feed:+openthemagazine/sports+(Sports)

The Game Daughters Play

Excerpts:

I cannot help looking up to her. I ask her how tall she is. “I am 5 feet 11 inches. For a change, that is not the first question that everyone asks me,” PV Sindhu giggles. “People usually ask me why I took to badminton instead of playing volleyball like my parents.”

...The Gopichand Academy trains younger kids too. Half Sindhu’s age is Gayatri, who is daddy’s girl in every sense. Daughter of Gopichand and Lakshmi, who was national badminton singles champion in 1994 and 1995, Gayatri’s much-loved first toy was a badminton racquet. That obsession has persisted, and she now spends a good four-five hours every day at her dad’s academy in Hyderabad, before and after school. “Yes, I want Gayatri to play the game because I think it is a blessing to play badminton,” says Gopi, “But it is not possible for me or anyone else to push her, it has to come from within.”

...an 11-year-old has been part of Dronacharya award winner SM Arif’s badminton gurukul at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. Arif, who has coached both Gopi and Saina Nehwal, knows Yeshaswini has the sporting DNA to make a mark. Daughter of former India hockey captain and triple Olympian Mukesh Kumar and women’s hockey player Nidhi Khullar (member of the India team that won a silver at the 1998 Asiad), Yeshaswini held a hockey stick for a good year or so before switching to the badminton racquet.

...For a country used to Father & Son sports packages, be it Ramanathan and Ramesh Krishnan or Milkha Singh and Jeev Milkha Singh, or even the Bhupathis and Gavaskars, it’s refreshing to have daughters trying to uphold the fame of their surnames. And the game that has stolen ahead in courting such success is badminton.

...Punnaiah Choudhary, a senior official at the Badminton Association of India, says Andhra Pradesh (the Indian state of which Hyderabad city is the capital) today has 17,600 active badminton players, more than any other state in the country, and even more than the cricketers in the state. This, according to him, has been achieved just by having two role models.