Saina worries about dearth of good coaches

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 24

Whenever a Saina Nehwal wins the Olympic bronze or a Parupalli Kashyap clinches the Commonwealth gold, thousands of parents buy their little ones new badminton racquets for the first time, with a hope that one day their kids would also become world-class shuttlers.
But, unlike the kids who take to cricket every time India win a series and join the professionally-run coaching camps, the ones who pick up badminton racquets probably end up playing with their neighbourhood friends in a locality park.
The reason: there are hardly any badminton coaching centres, apart from a few run by former greats, and hardly any internationally-certified coaches to produce the next set of Nehwals, Kashyaps and Sindhus. If the rise of current crop of Indian shuttlers has been awe-inspiring, it has much to do with former All England champions Pullela Gopichand and Prakash Padukone.
Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) in Hyderabad is the launch pad for many a budding shuttlers, just like the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bangalore.
But, apart from these legends, there are hardly any other qualified coaches, barring Vimal Kumar and Madhumita Bisht. The reason China, Malaysia or Denmark can produce world champions in badminton every year is because they have a vast pool of internationally-certified coaches, who were successful players themselves.
Saina Nehwal on Wednesday warned that it would be difficult to churn out the next generation of top shuttlers if the country fails to attract great coaches.
“Badminton is coming up very well in India. But we still lack in the coaching aspect. There is infrastructure but not enough coaches,” Sania said after announcing the launch of her first badminton academy in Gaur City at Greater Noida. Comparing India with badminton powerhouses like China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea, Saina said the coaches in those countries have the freedom to choose from a larger pool of talent.
“In those countries, every village has 30,000 kids playing badminton. That is the difference; 30,000 players coming from every city gives an option of a larger pool to select from. The coaches there are Olympic or World Champions and they have the freedom to go to any nook and corner and bring out the talent,” she said. Saina also emphasised on the need to focus on juniors and give them individual attention by assigning coaches to them.
Saina said she is happy with her progress especially after enduring a disappointing and injury-marred 2013.
“2014 has been a very good year for me; one of my best years. This year I worked hard on my fitness and was confident that results would come. I won three titles (India Open, Australia Open and China Open) this year, besides a bronze in Asiad. I started the year as world No. 9 but I managed to climb up to No. 4 in the rankings,” she said. The 24-year-old Hyderabadi said winning the China Open was one of her biggest achievements after her Olympic medal.