Have a cluster of events in one venue: Gopichand

Big Interview

Badminton, like golf and tennis, involves a lot of globe trotting. Take the 2019 season for example, 27 tournaments were spread across 20 countries. The season started in the second week of January and climaxed only in the middle of December. In fact this has been the template for a considerable period of time.

Players have often accused the Badminton World Federation of ‘poor’ scheduling and some top stars have even said they end up feeling exhausted by the end of the year. While the elite players can pick and choose their events after fulfilling the minimum participation requirements to combat fatigue, the ones in the middle and bottom half of the food chain literally have no choice but to keep criss-crossing the continents in order to make a decent living.

With the coronavirus outbreak forcing people across the world to minimise their travel, national coach Pullela Gopichand feels the time has come for the BWF to seriously consider hosting a cluster of events in a single country.

“It would be very prudent to think for the next few months the sport is not going to be without spectators. Why don’t we (India) get all the top players because we still have decent segregation in the BWF series,” said Gopichand in an exclusive chat with DH.

“Why don’t we have the series instead of holding one in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore or holding one in Denmark, France and Germany. Why don’t you club two or three tournaments together, stay in one venue, quarantine them and play back to back three tournaments. At most you can think of moving from place to place by bus but without any air travel so that we are kind of able to have secure spaces. I would prefer lesser travel and players being quarantined and staying in one place and continuously playing one or two tournaments in a row.”

Gopichand felt such a move will be extremely beneficial for lower-ranked players because badminton doesn’t generate much revenue from spectators. “This amount of travel from a cost perspective is just not making any sense. And we as a sport still don’t generate major revenue spectator wise. I think at the moment with the pandemic, sport will be without spectators. So how does it matter where you are playing and the main audience is television. So why don’t you just stay in one place and play back to back which could actually be beneficial for television viewers, beneficial for BWF to ensure that players are not unnecessarily exposed to the virus in travel times.”

Nearly most of the country’s top shuttlers train at Gopichand’s academy in Hyderabad which is yet to receive permission from the State government to open its doors. When asked how the players are coping with the pandemic, the former All England Open Championship winner said there’s an element of fear in everybody considering how grim things are turning everyday.

“I think wary is the word. They are sceptical about how do we start. Everybody is fearful about how things are. We want them to be careful. Also players, immune wise, are good. The fact that when you train hard and when your bodies are tired, you tend to be most vulnerable for infection. You want to be careful about players in an environment which is risky because travelling and meeting people will be a risky scenario. Players are brave, they are ready to go but I would say, they are sceptical as well,” he said.