India Badminton

badmuse said:
Lack of self belief and mental block. Srikanth is at a stage where he can lose to any player. Even in round 1 and 2 he almost lost.
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After narrowly winning over rank 90 player Ren Pengbo in Thailand Open , he said he was satisfied with the performance. If he's satisfied with this type of performance, than mental battle is lost. First he's to change his mentality and be hungry for more success.
 
Ashmita Chaliha is reluctant to move out of Assam to one of India's top 2 academies. But Ashmita has started going to Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy for sparring sessions before tournaments. She has broken into the top 100, currently World No.91.
She is currently India's best No.3 WS player. In about 3 years she should be at a better level .

Link: https://www.hindustantimes.com/othe...make-it-big/story-tWvNIr33K3hz5whYH67xkO.html

Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha banks on aggression to make it big
Ashmita Chaliha is one of the promising players who is expected to make the grade at the highest level in the next few years.
OTHER-SPORTSUpdated: Aug 21, 2019 23:36 IST
Sandip%20Sikdar%202-kULE-U202474970790qp-250x250%40HT-Web.jpg

Sandip Sikdar
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
_1e0c533a-c43e-11e9-b964-dfb37bdfef35.jpg

Ashmita Chaliha in action.(HT Photo)

The 19-year-old from Assam is rated the next best Indian player after Sindhu and Nehwal by the former chief national coach, U Vimal Kumar, who monitors her progress as she keeps dropping in at his Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, to spar with the best juniors of the country like former world No 1 junior, Lakshya Sen, training under him.

The trainee of Indonesian Edwin Iriawan at the Assam Badminton Academy in Guwahati—he was part of the national coaching set up from 2010 to 2014—the 19-year-old is making steady improvement and has broken into the top 100 at the senior level.

Last year, after she won senior national ranking tournaments, she was selected in the squad for the Asian Games, and made a mark at international level. She won the Dubai International title last November, and the Tata Open in Mumbai a fortnight later.

“The difference between the level of competition in domestic and international is all about speed; plus top internationals can change their game, and have a variety of strokes,” she says from Bengaluru, where she trains before important tournaments.

“I have to work a lot harder as everyone else is. Whatever I am doing right now, if I have to grow I have to double my effort—perfect whatever is not there in my game.”

Ashmita got a taste of world class opposition when she faced Sindhu in the semi-finals of the senior nationals in her hometown in February. She was tamed 21-10 by Sindhu in the first game, but the southpaw fought back to lead 19-16 in the second. The Rio Olympics silver medallist won the game and match but not before Ashmita had pushed her (22-20).

“She was too fast, I took time to adjust; I just couldn’t match her. I played well in the second game, but got excited and made errors. Otherwise I could have at least pushed the match into the decider,” says Ashmita. “After the match, Sindhu said my game is getting better but I have to work on some areas.”

Saina inspiration

Saina Nehwal is no less an inspiration. The London Olympics bronze medallist was her roommate at the Asian Games. With Nehwal and Sindhu available, she didn’t get to play in Jakarta, but it was still a learning process.

“We (with Saina) discussed about the games of other top players, the diet I need to have, etc. She has a very powerful game and her net play is superb,” says Ashmita. “We also talked a lot about food,” adds the foodie, who loves Chinese cuisine and visits eateries wherever she travels abroad.

An aggressive player who likes to finish points quickly, one of her early scalps was Liang Ting Yu of Chinese Taipei, who she beat in three games in the Hong Kong Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships in March.

Ashmita’s progress has been steady. Last November, she was world No 282 but wins in Dubai and Mumbai lifted her to 191 soon after. She climbed to 129 in March before breaking into the top 100 in July. “My goal is to enter the top 50 by the end of the year,” said the world No 89, whose best ranking was two rungs higher.

“I will next play the Vietnam Open (September), Dubai International and Indonesia Masters (both in October) apart from a few zonal tournaments in India,” she says.

Home support

Ashmita took up badminton after her father, a tennis player, wanted both his daughters in sports. “The badminton stadium was very close to our place and I joined at the age of seven. My elder sister Harshita also played badminton at the nationals but an ankle injury halted her career,” says Ashmita, who also occasionally plays tennis.
 
badmuse said:
Ashmita Chaliha is reluctant to move out of Assam to one of India's top 2 academies. But Ashmita has started going to Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy for sparring sessions before tournaments. She has broken into the top 100, currently World No.91.
She is currently India's best No.3 WS player. In about 3 years she should be at a better level .

Link: https://www.hindustantimes.com/othe...make-it-big/story-tWvNIr33K3hz5whYH67xkO.html

Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha banks on aggression to make it big
Ashmita Chaliha is one of the promising players who is expected to make the grade at the highest level in the next few years.
OTHER-SPORTSUpdated: Aug 21, 2019 23:36 IST
Sandip%20Sikdar%202-kULE-U202474970790qp-250x250%40HT-Web.jpg

Sandip Sikdar
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
_1e0c533a-c43e-11e9-b964-dfb37bdfef35.jpg

Ashmita Chaliha in action.(HT Photo)

The 19-year-old from Assam is rated the next best Indian player after Sindhu and Nehwal by the former chief national coach, U Vimal Kumar, who monitors her progress as she keeps dropping in at his Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, to spar with the best juniors of the country like former world No 1 junior, Lakshya Sen, training under him.

The trainee of Indonesian Edwin Iriawan at the Assam Badminton Academy in Guwahati—he was part of the national coaching set up from 2010 to 2014—the 19-year-old is making steady improvement and has broken into the top 100 at the senior level.

Last year, after she won senior national ranking tournaments, she was selected in the squad for the Asian Games, and made a mark at international level. She won the Dubai International title last November, and the Tata Open in Mumbai a fortnight later.

“The difference between the level of competition in domestic and international is all about speed; plus top internationals can change their game, and have a variety of strokes,” she says from Bengaluru, where she trains before important tournaments.

“I have to work a lot harder as everyone else is. Whatever I am doing right now, if I have to grow I have to double my effort—perfect whatever is not there in my game.”

Ashmita got a taste of world class opposition when she faced Sindhu in the semi-finals of the senior nationals in her hometown in February. She was tamed 21-10 by Sindhu in the first game, but the southpaw fought back to lead 19-16 in the second. The Rio Olympics silver medallist won the game and match but not before Ashmita had pushed her (22-20).

“She was too fast, I took time to adjust; I just couldn’t match her. I played well in the second game, but got excited and made errors. Otherwise I could have at least pushed the match into the decider,” says Ashmita. “After the match, Sindhu said my game is getting better but I have to work on some areas.”

Saina inspiration

Saina Nehwal is no less an inspiration. The London Olympics bronze medallist was her roommate at the Asian Games. With Nehwal and Sindhu available, she didn’t get to play in Jakarta, but it was still a learning process.

“We (with Saina) discussed about the games of other top players, the diet I need to have, etc. She has a very powerful game and her net play is superb,” says Ashmita. “We also talked a lot about food,” adds the foodie, who loves Chinese cuisine and visits eateries wherever she travels abroad.

An aggressive player who likes to finish points quickly, one of her early scalps was Liang Ting Yu of Chinese Taipei, who she beat in three games in the Hong Kong Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships in March.

Ashmita’s progress has been steady. Last November, she was world No 282 but wins in Dubai and Mumbai lifted her to 191 soon after. She climbed to 129 in March before breaking into the top 100 in July. “My goal is to enter the top 50 by the end of the year,” said the world No 89, whose best ranking was two rungs higher.

“I will next play the Vietnam Open (September), Dubai International and Indonesia Masters (both in October) apart from a few zonal tournaments in India,” she says.

Home support

Ashmita took up badminton after her father, a tennis player, wanted both his daughters in sports. “The badminton stadium was very close to our place and I joined at the age of seven. My elder sister Harshita also played badminton at the nationals but an ankle injury halted her career,” says Ashmita, who also occasionally plays tennis.
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Few months ago, I read an article about her balancing studies and badminton equally. If she needs to focus on badminton as career, she needs to get into one of the two academies preferably Gopichand Academy. I'm quite surprised that she wasn't given much exposure since Asian games last year. I admire her talent but I'm little skeptical about her rate of progress. She commits lots of unforced errors , though she has a game to crack top 40-50 if she works on certain areas, minimises unforced errors and build strength. To reach top 20-30, she needs more than that. Very difficult but not impossible. Hope to see her more.
 
Baddie lover said:
After narrowly winning over rank 90 player Ren Pengbo in Thailand Open , he said he was satisfied with the performance. If he's satisfied with this type of performance, than mental battle is lost. First he's to change his mentality and be hungry for more success.
Click to expand...
He could have addressed the problems when the symptoms were slowly starting to emerge. Now he is pushed against the wall, he has no choice, but to improve or lose Tokyo tickets to the men who are hell bent on getting them. I secretly like his situation at this point.


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mohans said:
Even here, I see a bit of luck in the draw for an unseeded SK. With a bright possibility for SYQ to withdraw, he could make it till QF. But as always, he will have other ideas


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I don't think this time SK could get pass Sai Praneeth.
 
mohans said:
Even here, I see a bit of luck in the draw for an unseeded SK. With a bright possibility for SYQ to withdraw, he could make it till QF. But as always, he will have other ideas


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
KS never fails to surprise us. At the start he used to create upset for us. Now he he upsets us. What a turnaround.
 
Link: https://www.hindustantimes.com/othe...a-gopichand/story-InB3GkU48uUykIvwmWHcGI.html

Gopichand on the Korean coaches
Coach support

“It is great to have the support of the coaches. I have always said that we need more coaches. Park (Tae Sang, the men’s singles coach) and Kim being here is really helpful. To be able to spend dedicated time with an athlete is important and it is great to have that support of these coaches,” said Gopi.

“Kim has been spending a couple of hours in the morning and evening on a one-to-one basis, which actually helps Sindhu work on the skill aspect, which is very important.”
 
Link: https://www.thehindu.com/sport/othe...thankless-job-vimal-kumar/article29283037.ece

Coaching, like teaching, is a thankless job: Vimal Kumar
N. Sudarshan
BENGALURU, AUGUST 29, 2019 01:15 IST
UPDATED: AUGUST 29, 2019 01:15 IST

TH30KUMAR

Recognition, at last! Vimal Kumar, who has groomed players like Gopi Chand, Aparna Popat and P. Kashyap, among others, has been chosen for the highest honour.



The former National badminton champion feels that players should take more responsibility and be less dependent on mentors
Despite a successful playing career, U. Vimal Kumar never received the Arjuna award. However, after over two
decades spent coaching and grooming players such as P. Gopi Chand, Aparna Popat and P. Kashyap at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy here, there is recognition finally in the form of the prestigious Dronacharya award.

The 57-year-old spoke to The Hindu ahead of Thursday’s awards ceremony. Excerpts

Your thoughts on the award?
I am quite happy with it. I wasn't expecting it and wasn’t even aware that the process was on. But everybody likes recognition and I am no different.

You didn’t get the Arjuna Award as a player. So how important or big is this?

I have always felt that awards shouldn’t be asked for. Back then, BAI wasn’t very happy with me shifting to England for a majority of my playing career. I still played for India for nearly 14 years, including the Olympics and Asian Games. But somehow it didn’t work.

When I was young, I felt bad, but [not now]. Even if I had not received the Dronacharya, it wouldn’t have affected me because it is all for just one week and then it is forgotten.

I could actually understand the feelings of H.S. Prannoy [when he didn’t get Arjuna]. But I told him that that was not the time to look for an award, in the middle of the World Championships. I feel awards, like Arjuna, should be given in the twilight of your career. Saina [Nehwal] got the Padma Bhushan but she was upset the first time she didn’t get it. I told her that she had a long way to go. Milkha Singh was never given an Arjuna award! The youngsters need to be patient.

Does coaching big players add weight? Saina came under your wings when she was already an Olympic medallist...

Saina’s training at the Prakash Academy did make a difference to her game. She could get a medal at the Worlds after a low phase in her career. But that doesn't mean you get a Dronacharya for that. Just because you have coached somebody big, you don’t get it.

Some coaches are good at the primary level, some at the intermediate and others at the advanced stages. All these coaches should be recognised. This is currently not happening in India. Even primary school teachers are forgotten. Only the IIMs and IITs get [recognised]. This should change.

What are the aspects of a good coach?

As a coach, what I have learnt is that we shouldn’t make players too dependent on us. You have to help them take responsibility and tell them, ‘success, failure… everything is on you. We are behind you and can only guide.’ The players’ mindset is like this: they will ask for 100 things. You give them all 100 but they will find the 101st thing to harp on. But I always stress on them taking responsibility. Also, when there is a small success, we shouldn’t hype it up. We should keep them grounded.

How did you go about acquiring these?

I started coaching in England when I was just 22. As part of my Slazenger contract, I had to devote 15 days’ time for coaching youngsters. I also learnt a lot from Tom John who was in England then. He was a tough taskmaster. I was staying with him and then one fine morning he said, ‘now you need to be on your own’. I didn’t know where to go.

I applied to an Italian restaurant very close to the Wimbledon club where I used to practise. I worked as a waiter daily from 6 p.m. to midnight. All the big tennis stars, Martina [Navratilova], [John] McEnroe, would come and we would fight to serve them because you could get extra tips! So you basically took more responsibility of yourself, unlike now when most things are spoon-fed. We were better organised, I would say. And these things helped me in my coaching.

Prakash Padukone influenced you as a player. How much of it helped you in coaching?

He was our idol, a self-taught, self-made guy. A lot of his views on playing and coaching we still follow. For example, he never worried about the things he didn’t have, like the fitness or the speed of the Chinese and Indonesians. But he was clever and still dictated the pace, controlled rallies and had a good net game. When we started the academy, this is what he stressed on — to not lose things that come naturally. Of course, you should add things to your game, but to not lose what you have is one principle I still insist on.

How have players’ expectations from coaches changed over the years?

This generation wants coaches to be with them 24x7. During matches, during practice, etc. I don’t agree with that. Also, as a coach, you shouldn’t hold on to players. You need to understand that players have short careers. When Saina told me that she wanted to go back to Hyderabad and give it a try with the Indonesian coach (Mulyo Handoyo), I appreciated that. Sometimes it can hurt you, but coaching, like teaching, is a thankless job. You can’t be sentimental about it.
 
LInk: https://indianexpress.com/article/s...d-interview-indian-badmintons-future-5943795/

We haven’t invested in coaches: P Gopichand worried about Indian badminton’s future
Gopichand feels the country needs to wake up to the fact that there aren't enough coaches to handle the talent that is rising. "...we have not invested enough in coaches," he said here with Sindhu by his side at a press conference on

By PTI | Hyderabad |Updated: August 28, 2019 1:07:53 pm

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India might be celebrating a world champion in P V Sindhu right now but national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand feels there are reasons to be worried about the future as the country has not “invested enough in coaches”.

Sindhu, who is also an Olympic silver-medallist, became India’s first world champion in the sport with a straight-game triumph over Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the summit clash on Sunday. She returned to a frenzied welcome on Monday night.

However, Gopichand feels the country needs to wake up to the fact that there aren’t enough coaches to handle the talent that is rising. “…we have not invested enough in coaches,” he said here with Sindhu by his side at a press conference on Tuesday night.

Gopichand, a Dronacharya awardee, is credited with grooming not just Sindhu but also the trail-blazing Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth among others.

“We actually have a big vacuum in terms of producing coaches of quality and it’s not a training program. It’s an ecosystem issue. So, we need to work harder to bridge that gap,” he said.

Gopichand said although there are some foreign coaches like South Korean Kim Ji-Hyun on board, more are needed to deal with the talent that is coming up.

He said more coaches are required to strategise for matches against seasoned international players like Lin Dan.

“That we have not achieved. Hopefully, when this generation of people retire, we will actually get these people. If these people get back into coaching, then we’ll actually get back numbers which are required,” he said.

“It’s a question without an easy answer and till that time, foreign coaches need to support,” he said. The former All England champion said the hectic calendar of the sport is also the reason why a larger pool of coaches and physiotherapists is required.

“It’s also our own doing. Because, we have grown too fast and the infrastructure around us hasn’t grown enough.

“That’s a big problem we have and we need to sort it out. We need to talk about it and collectively find an answer,” Gopichand said.
 
Link: https://www.thenewsminute.com/artic...-ppba-groom-promising-badminton-talent-108417

Infosys Foundation announces partnership with PPBA to groom promising badminton talent
As part of the MoU, Infosys Foundation will support the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy’s long-term, intensive all-round coaching program through a grant of Rs 16 crore.
  • TNM Staff
  • Thursday, September 05, 2019 - 14:24



infosys_foundation_prakash_padukone_badminton_acadey.jpg


Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, on Thursday announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with thePrakash Padukone Badminton Academy to support the Academy’s talented players to compete and excel in various national and international sporting competitions. This partnership is aimed at nurturing promising badminton talent in the Academy through an intensive training program with the goal of helping them become future medal contenders at prestigious sporting events such as the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.

Speaking on the occasion Sudha Murty, Infosys Foundation Chairperson, said, “As a country we love sports, but when it comes to making a career in sports, lack of a comprehensive support system often discourages some of the finest athletes to pursue their passion.

To compete successfully at the international level, Indian athletes deserve good infrastructure and training support which must be comparable to the best in the world. I do hope that our support through the Infosys Foundation – PPBA Champions Nurturing Program will address the existing gaps and help not just a few, but an entire generation of badminton players make the country proud through their achievements.”

As part of the MoU, Infosys Foundation will support the Academy’s long-term, intensive all-round coaching program to be known as the Infosys Foundation – PPBA Champions Nurturing Program, through a grant of Rs 16 crore. The program will commence from October 2019 and will be completed over a period of 5 years, with a target of about 65 junior athletes expected to receive training every year.

The grant is designed to help PPBA groom its trainees by:

  • Providing full-time world class coaching and related support facilities at the Academy in Bengaluru
  • Offering players, a comprehensive, state-of-the-art badminton infrastructure including a sports science centre, gym, swimming pool among other facilities
  • Supporting the boarding, lodging and travel needs for players and coaches
  • Facilitating global training opportunities for selected high potential talent
  • Supporting a pan-India talent scouting program to unearth promising new talent for the future
Prakash Padukone, Founder, Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, said, “PPBA has been instrumental in producing world class badminton talent for nearly 25 years. As we get ready to celebrate our silver jubilee year, we are delighted to announce this long term partnership with Infosys Foundation that shares our vision of nurturing Indian sports talent. The grant will provide impetus in equipping our athletes with world class training and guidance, and help them stand out in the sporting fraternity globally.”

Vimal Kumar, Co-Founder and Chief Coach, Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, who was recently awarded the Dronacharya Award by the Government of India for excellence in coaching, said, “Over the last three decades as a player and coach, I have seen a very impactful shift in the approach towards badminton as a sport and career choice in India. Today, at PPBA we have athletes from diverse backgrounds and age groups who are steadfastly focused on excelling in this game, and it gives me immense joy when I see our past and present athletes excel in the national and international arena. This support from Infosys Foundation will be significant in taking our training program to the next level.”
 
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