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Badminton official Navneet Sehgal was happy and relieved on Tuesday. The president of the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association (UPBA) led the team to ensure the successful conduct of the Syed Modi International.
Under the able leadership of Sehgal, the UPBA managed to hold the BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament in the midst of a pandemic. The six-day tournament concluded on Sunday.
There were serious doubts that the Syed Modi International tournament would also not be able to be held this year either, as India is going through the third wave of COVID-19.
However, Sehgal and his UPBA team not only conducted the tournament in a grand manner but also roped in big sponsorships for the annual tournament.
The icing on the cake was a brilliant performance from the Indian shuttlers. PV Sindhu finally ended her nearly three-year title drought by winning the women’s singles title. After winning the 2019 BWF World Badminton Championships, Sindhu was unable to win the crown despite reaching the semifinals and finals on several occasions.
In addition to Sindhu, the mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto emerged as champions for the first time in a major tournament.
The Indian players also finished as runners-up in the women’s doubles and men’s doubles. Out of the five finals, the Indians featured in four, which showed the overall dominance of the Indian players.
While Indian players were sweating on the court, the UPBA team led by Sehgal was working tirelessly to make sure the prestigious badminton tournament went off smoothly.
Although there were quite a few withdrawals before and during the tournament because of players testing positive, UPBA did not panic and completed the job on hand perfectly.
The support of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Badminton World Federation (BWF) also played a major role in the overall success of the tournament.
The IAS officer appreciated the invaluable support from the BAI, BWF and sponsors in pulling off a successful tournament. He is looking forward to improving the sport's standards in Uttar Pradesh.
The 58-year-old has several plans up his sleeve to make Uttar Pradesh the major badminton center in the country sooner rather than later. Babu Banarasi Das Badminton Academy, run by UPBA, has already produced some of the best players over the years. He is trying to build on it and make the academy a force to reckon with in the future.
It’s no secret that there is a badminton boom in the country after the recent successes of PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen at the highest level. The UPBA also aims to capitalize on the boom with an eye on the next major events.
Sehgal, who took over the UPBA reign in 2018, revealed his plans for the future:
“Badminton has become very popular among youths because of the achievements of the players like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, K Srikanth and Lakshya Sen among others. For the Olympic Games 2024, Asian Games 2026 and Los Angeles Olympics 2028, we are planning to organize more state level tournaments in the state as well as district level tournaments. Apart from this, we are planning tournaments at the village level, block level, tehsil level, district level and state level with the support from the state government.”
When asked about his four-year tenure and development work in badminton in Uttar Pradesh, Sehgal sounded satisfied with his overall tenure so far.
“I got the opportunity of being associated with the sport 4 years ago and it has been a challenging term because of Covid-19. However, we are leaving no stones unturned to ensure players in the state get an opportunity to practise at the best of infrastructure and play at the top most level. We recently felicitated all Olympic and Paralympic medal winners. The state of Uttar Pradesh has now also adopted badminton.”
Uttar Pradesh has produced champions such as Mansi Singh, who was a gold medalist in Under-17 National Championships in 2019 and bronze medal winner in the Dutch Junior International Badminton Championship in 2020. In addition to Mansi Singh, five other players from the UPBA academy were also part of the Indian junior team.
UPBA satisfied with sponsors for Syed Modi badminton tournament
The Syed Modi International tournament managed to get sponsors like Dream11, Adani Group and Balrampur Chini Mills on board this year.
Sehgal seemed satisfied with the response from the sponsors for this season, considering the pandemic period.
“We are very thankful to all our sponsors. The government of Uttar Pradesh was the main sponsor and ensured smooth movement of logistics. I am also glad that big corporates like Adani Group, Dream 11 and Balrampur Chini Mills accepted our sponsorship request and supported the tournament. It shows how seriously sport is now being taken by everyone in the country. We further ensured all COVID-19 protocols laid down by the state and Badminton World Federation (BWF) were followed and RT-PCR and Antigen testing was done on a daily basis.”
Uttar Pradesh has produced several national and international players over the years. They have a good system in place to discover and nurture young talent. Despite the challenges being faced at present in its current form, the UPBA hopes to develop this system over the next five years.
Sehgal went on to say:
“We currently have girls’ and boys’ hostels in the BBD campus which are well furnished with AC in the rooms. There are about 60 trainees and 5 coaches staying in the hostel. We have created 3 groups for the training — Group A, B and C — for indoor and outdoor training. Based on their performance and the recommendations of the coaches, we promote them in higher groups. Apart from this about 300 beginners come to the academy after their school in the evening. Our coaches nurture the budding shutters and train them and pick the talent for the A, B, C Groups.”
To further boost the sport in the region, the UPBA is coming up with another indoor hall so that more players can train at the new venue. Commenting on it, Sehgal said:
“Of course the pandemic has posed a great challenge as training had to be stopped but now we are trying to fill the gap and our coaches are working hard to continue training the players in a safe environment. We are planning to construct a multipurpose hall consisting of four courts, an international standard swimming pool and a club house within the campus in the next five years.”
If everything goes well, UPBA can certainly become the powerful hub for badminton in the future with its world-class infrastructure and dynamic leadership.
