City of shuttlers

Hyderabad saw V.K. Verma, vice president of Badminton World Federation and President of Badminton Association of India, present the coveted ‘Most Promising Player of 2008’ Award of the BWF to Saina Nehwal. The event portrayed the significance of Hyderabad as the official headquarters of the sport in India as the city is gearing up to host the prestigious Yonex-Sunrise World Badminton Championship in August this year.

This ‘City of Pearls’ has become the hub of badminton activity over the years. Players like Manoj Kumar and Praveen Kumar paved the path years ago. Hyderabad made its presence felt when Pullela Gopichand became the second Indian to win the All England championship in 2001. With the commitment of K.Ch. Punnaiah Choudhary, joint secretary of BAI and secretary of AP Badminton Association for a long time now, never AP had a major role in the sport.

The gesture of the BWF to present the award to the World No. 7 Saina is also a recognition of the new face of Indian badminton in the world circuit. “I am thrilled at the huge honour. No better place than to receive this. And coming ahead of the World championship, this should be a big morale-booster not just to me but to my team mates too,” she remarked.

“I am aware that awards are not the end of it all. But they do act as a catalyst in driving you to set bigger goals,” she pointed out.

The BAI chief said that Hyderabad was the logical choice for the world championship for a variety of reasons. The most important being World No. 12 Chetan Anand, Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles combination member Gutta Jwala, a product of the illustrious Dronacharya S. M. Arif all hail from the City and their contribution cannot be undermined.

V. Radha, VC & MD of Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh said, “We have been given a list of modifications at the venue and we are here to help the organisers to ensure that the event is a big success. With rains expected around that time, we are even contemplating of covering the entire approach ways to the venue besides making all the adjacent venues available for the players and officials.”

One of the best possible outcomes of the World Championship is the up gradation of Gopi Chand-Nimmagadda Badminton Academy to join the top two training centres of Indonesia and China in the world. With a high-level BWF delegation visiting the venue during the championship, it can well be deemed a formality given Gopi’s reputation and commitment to ensure that the players get the best. Hyderabad’s capability to host the mega event is reflected by the positive report of the Intelligent Risks, an Australian agency, which is taking care of the crucial security aspect. “We will leave no stone unturned. It is our obligation to see that the players and officials enjoy their stay,” says Kode Durga Prasad, IPS and president of APBA.

By all means, the world championship featuring 600 players from 80 countries should be a perfect platform for the likes of World No. 31 P. Kashyap also to prove a point or two in an event which will feature the likes of Lin Dan, Taufik Hidayat, Chen Jin and Wong Mew Choo.

courtesy:hindu