Bangalore likely to have elite doubles centre soon

Biju Prasad

India might be an aspiring badminton powerhouse, but the country has yet to address some fundamental issues. The question of doubles, for instance, remains – India just does not have enough top-level doubles players who will shoulder responsibility in both team and individual events in the months ahead.

Among those hoping to address this issue is coach Biju Prasad, who runs a training centre called Badminton Bangalore: Centre of Excellence at Gopalan International School in Whitefield, Bangalore. Prasad, who unearthed gems like Anup Sridhar and Abhishek Bakshi over a decade ago, returned to badminton a few years ago after a prolonged hiatus following disillusionment with the game. With his academy establishing itself as a badminton centre in the Whitefield area and attracting around 100 players — some are competition-level, while others are recreational — Prasad has started off on a project to establish an elite doubles training centre. For this, he has roped in Vinod Kumar, one of India’s best-ever doubles players, as coach. Vinod was, until recently, with the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy.

The training facility has been identified and Prasad has been in talks with international equipment companies Kawasaki and Apacs for sponsoring the centre. “The talks are positive,” says Prasad. “We should be able to start in six months’ time. If all goes well, Kawasaki might even send Li Mao, the former Malaysian and Korean coach, to help us with training.” Li Mao is currently with a club run by Kawasaki in Malaysia.

Doubles badminton has mostly been ignored by private academies because it is a specialised area that requires different expertise. Most of India’s stalwarts currently running academies are singles players, and their iconic status has propagated the singles game. It was only in recent years that the importance of specialised training for doubles was recognised, and efforts made to rope in foreign coaches for national camps. Indonesian Hadi Sugianto was the first specialist doubles coach given charge of the national team. The current national doubles coach, Edwin Iriawan, is also from Indonesia. But private academies have mostly remained focussed on singles.

While the number of private academies in India has shot up, none of them offer specialised doubles training. Apart from coaching expertise, doubles training is more expensive than singles, because of the sheer number of shuttles that are required, and the greater incidence of injury to heavy-hitting players. Doubles players get far lesser attention and prize money than singles players, and it’s unusual to see young players choosing doubles over singles during their younger years. It’s little surprise that specialised doubles private academies are considered financially non-viable.

But to Prasad, that’s a challenge he’s willing to take on, for it’s a legacy he wants to leave. He was able to make his current academy a financial success by some astute planning – through partnership with Gopalan International School, for instance, or selling slots to corporates – and he believes he can do the same with the new venue. Those selected will have to bear training expenses, and he has no doubt that it can turn into an elite centre.

Vinod Kumar, whose doubles partners include Prakash Padukone, sounded enthused about the project. “It’s a good project,” he says. “I have approached some of the best India players, and they are willing to help in training.”

When the centre does materialise, it will reinforce Bangalore’s status as one of the heartlands of Indian badminton.