BAI set to rope in foreign coaches

After the massive success of Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal on the international stage, the profile of badminton has risen manifold in the country. With a large number of youngsters hoping to emulate the stars in the coming years, Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Akhilesh Das Gupta announced slew of majors aimed at improving infrastructure and training standards.

“We have identified seven (foreign) coaches who will help nurture talent in different parts of the country. There will be one or two in Bengaluru, two in Lucknow, two in Hyderabad and so on,” he said, adding that trainers were in the process of getting their visas and should be arriving in the country soon. “These coaches will be working with private academies as a National Training Centre is not a viable option right now due to lack of availability of funds,” he added.

There was also some good news for budding shuttlers in Karnataka as the BAI will be coming up with a junior academy in Udupi. “In terms of Karnataka, there will be a junior academy that will be opening in Udupi. We have already given the Udupi District Badminton Association Rs 5 lakh for the academy and there will be an additional five lakh for upcoming players.”

In addtion to this, the BAI is also looking forward to having badminton legend Prakash Padukone in the scheme of things since he is from the same district. Das Gupta also made a plea to state associations and the government to aid in the effort to set-up these academies as the BAI does not have the financial muscle to do so by itself.

Sinha expelled
The BAI also unanimously decided to expel it's General Secretary Vijay Sinha at it's Executive Committee Meeting. A BAI release stated that “Sinha is facing a judicial inquiry with regard to the charges of embezzlement, misappropriation, fraud, nepotism, favoritism, misconduct, harassment of players.

The committee also approved the prize money to be awarded to players and coaches who performed well last year. In this regard, P Gopichand's renumeration was increased from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. There was also talk of having a domestic badminton league with top players featuring in the event.