The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Gopi hopeful of hosting GP events

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 27, 2006
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Gopi hopeful of hosting GP events

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: India could host three $200,000 Grand Prix events for three years in a row from 2007, said National badminton coach Pullela Gopi Chand at the launch of the $10,000 Indian Satellite Badminton Championship to be played at the Goregaon Sports Club from Nov. 1.

"The GP events are bigger than the Asian Badminton Confederation's Satellite events. We are hopeful of hosting the events next year," he said.

The press conference to announce the Satellite event turned into a seminar and Gopi Chand remarked about the languishing state of Indian badminton.

He touched upon the importance of creating infrastructure all over India, providing grassroots training and international exposure for the players.

"Kids at the grassroots level have to start playing the game with the ultimate aim of representing India. In China, the average players are weeded out at the age of 13 and 14. There, the youngsters play and think badminton for 358 days a year — they go home for a week for the Chinese New year. It's the kind of process that creates champion players," he said.

Dwindling numbers

Articulating his views further, Gopi Chand said a country cannot have a parallel system where sport and education run side by side.

"What we need is a constant supply of champions, bigger tournaments at home where the Indians get to see Indian champions and becoming role models. The numbers are dwindling in the girls' U-16 and U-19 sections, though there are a high number of entries in the U-13 group," he said.

The top junior players from seven Asian countries and a few from Europe are likely to take part in the Satellite event, sponsored by Indian Oil.

"China, Indonesia and Malaysia will not send their top three players, but the group below that or a handful of promising juniors. It will be still a very good competition. It will help the Indian players," said Gopi Chand.

Aparna Popat and Saina Nehwal said that the Indian squad would give its best shot and make the Indian Satellite a memorable event for the locals.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport