Kolkata: Chief national coach of the Indian badminton team Pullela Gopichand on Wednesday slammed the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for making it compulsory for the shuttlers to compete in 12 tournaments every year, which might lead to severe injuries and fatigue.
The Super Series and the Super Series Premier which under the revamped schedule of 2018 will be called the ‘World Tour’ has made it mandatory for the world’s top 15 players in the single categories and top 10 pairs in the doubles events to play a minimum of 12 tournaments across the year.
“I think they’ve cramped the calendar too much. It is unfortunate the kind of thinking the BWF has. I don’t agree to what they have (interests) in terms of getting players to play so many tournaments. There are players who’re already getting injured, performances have not been consistent and it doesn’t help the players’ cause when they’ve to continue to push themselves to play so many tournaments,” said Gopichand on the sidelines of the talent hunt campaign under his academy, wherein top 10-15 U-15 shuttlers will be inducted into the Hyderabad based academy of the former All England Open champion.
While the world body has proposed an increased amount of Prize money for the tournaments, the players will also have to do away with a stiff fine if they fail to participate in the half dozen events.
“There’re so many ways of ensuring that the sport is promoted and cramping up the calendar and forcing the players to play is not a very good idea,” Gopichand emphasised as quoted by the Hindustan times.
Coaches need to be motivated
Gopichand also took a dig at the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for not upholding the contributions of the coaches in developing the players as well as the stature of Badminton in India.
“Coaches need to be trained, need to be motivated, need to be recognised, need to be rewarded, and all of these are important. How many coaches do we know from various fields? Even sportspersons, reporters, and myself, we would not know so many of them. Also, how much of pay we give them is also important,” he said.
It has for long been a common norm in Indian Sports, where foreign coaches are given more preference over their Indian counterparts, which starts from the scale of pay to the incentives and the various facilities they enjoy.
“We treat Indian coaches differently, foreign coaches differently,” Gopichand reiterated. “I’ll have to say this openly but there’s not a single rupee of remuneration which any of the coaches in the past have got from either the federation or the SAI and it’s time they start looking at coaches differently.”
The two-time Commonwealth Games medalist nonetheless added that the scale of pay and incentives were not the only reason why former players do not get into coaching.
“It’s not just lack of incentives. It’s sometimes lack of respect as well. Society has to respect that. The family has to respect that because if he gets paid doing another job, they’ll say, ‘why are you coaching? You’re better off doing another thing’. The federation, governments, authorities and administrators also need to take them seriously. A coach needs to be respected. I’m sure everyone has these challenges in the teaching profession as well… The best mind doesn’t get into teaching. Likewise, we also face the same challenges with coaching,” he added.
Srikanth is phenomenal
Meanwhile, the 44-year-old under whose tutelage the three ‘S’ of Indian Badminton namely, Saina, Sindhu and Srikanth have achieved greater heights and success bringing numerous accolades to the country, was full of praise for all the three shuttlers.
Reserving special praise for Srikanth who became the only Indian to win four Super Series titles in a single calendar year, Gopichand said, “To win four Super Series titles and a runner-up at one and a ranking of world No 2 is phenomenal. Not many players in world badminton (have achieved that).”
“The only players who have achieved what he has done – we call them legends of the sport across time. From that point of view what he has achieved is phenomenal. He’s young and has many more years to compete. He’s 24. (with) Lee Chong Wei at 34 and Lin Dan at 33 (still playing), we can expect that he has 8-10 years of badminton left in him. What he can achieve, considering his potential, is unbelievable,” he added.