This phase of badminton is the best phase ever in Indian badminton.This blog is about what badminton has done right to reach this stage.
Last two years have been exceptional for the Indian badminton players.From a hint of glory in men's singles to the dominance in women's singles,badminton has grown a lot as a sport.P.V Sindhu,K.Srikant are among the best known faces today in India.From Olympic silver to back to back superseries titles,hints of dominance of Indian badminton can be sensed.But when did the fate of Indian badminton change?
Badminton has a great connection with India.It is believed that badminton started in this very country.In the 1980's the world saw a great badminton player Prakash Padukone.One of the very
few known sportspersons at that time.The All England champion had set a tone for other coming badminton players at the time when sports(that too badminton) was hardly considered a profession to be taken.After that in 10 years there were a few good players but none of them was as good as Prakash Padukone.The era of late 1990's and early 2000 saw Pullela Gopichand.Another All England champion who became a known face in India.After him there was again a drought of great badminton players.This ended when Saina entered this sport and then started creating records which were never created.The only thing that she missed was the olympic medal in 2008 Olympics,where she lost a very close match that too by a very close margin.Had she won that medal,I think what we are seeing todaywould have happened 3-4 years ago.But now what these badminton players have achieved is exceptional.
The most important reason for this glory is because of two people namely Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand.They have set up two world class badminton coaching centres in Hyderabad and Banglore.Prakash Padukone badminton academy is sponsored by TATA and is situated in Banglore and Gopichand Academy is situated in Hyderabad.These two legends have put in a lot of hardwork for setting up these two centres.In fact Gopichand had to borrow money for setting up his academy.But the brave effort of him is paying off today.The high standard of his academy can be understood by knowing the fact fact that players from other countries also come to train here.
The second reason Saina's glory in the 2012 Olympics.This was a major boost in givig badminton its popularity.Before her no Indian badminton player managed to reach this feat.The icing on the cake was P.V Sindhu's glory in 2016 Olympics which gave badminton a recognition as big as cricket.
Finally I believe that other sports like table tennis,football,squash,athletics etc must learn badminton.The very first step is to set up world class coaching facilities.Though Sports Authority of Indiadoes not give such high funds but in that case some legend of that game needs to step in(like what Gopichand did).There may be problems but there will be a time when the sport will become glorius.Secondly there has to be a player which gives a heroic performance in a big event like Olympics(what Saina did).This really sets a tone and motivation for other players.For example I do not think the standard of cricket would have been the same in Kapil Dev's led team had not won the 1983 World Cup.Surely if a game like badminton can reach such heights then other games can also repeat the same.
Last two years have been exceptional for the Indian badminton players.From a hint of glory in men's singles to the dominance in women's singles,badminton has grown a lot as a sport.P.V Sindhu,K.Srikant are among the best known faces today in India.From Olympic silver to back to back superseries titles,hints of dominance of Indian badminton can be sensed.But when did the fate of Indian badminton change?
Badminton has a great connection with India.It is believed that badminton started in this very country.In the 1980's the world saw a great badminton player Prakash Padukone.One of the very
few known sportspersons at that time.The All England champion had set a tone for other coming badminton players at the time when sports(that too badminton) was hardly considered a profession to be taken.After that in 10 years there were a few good players but none of them was as good as Prakash Padukone.The era of late 1990's and early 2000 saw Pullela Gopichand.Another All England champion who became a known face in India.After him there was again a drought of great badminton players.This ended when Saina entered this sport and then started creating records which were never created.The only thing that she missed was the olympic medal in 2008 Olympics,where she lost a very close match that too by a very close margin.Had she won that medal,I think what we are seeing todaywould have happened 3-4 years ago.But now what these badminton players have achieved is exceptional.
The most important reason for this glory is because of two people namely Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand.They have set up two world class badminton coaching centres in Hyderabad and Banglore.Prakash Padukone badminton academy is sponsored by TATA and is situated in Banglore and Gopichand Academy is situated in Hyderabad.These two legends have put in a lot of hardwork for setting up these two centres.In fact Gopichand had to borrow money for setting up his academy.But the brave effort of him is paying off today.The high standard of his academy can be understood by knowing the fact fact that players from other countries also come to train here.
The second reason Saina's glory in the 2012 Olympics.This was a major boost in givig badminton its popularity.Before her no Indian badminton player managed to reach this feat.The icing on the cake was P.V Sindhu's glory in 2016 Olympics which gave badminton a recognition as big as cricket.
Finally I believe that other sports like table tennis,football,squash,athletics etc must learn badminton.The very first step is to set up world class coaching facilities.Though Sports Authority of Indiadoes not give such high funds but in that case some legend of that game needs to step in(like what Gopichand did).There may be problems but there will be a time when the sport will become glorius.Secondly there has to be a player which gives a heroic performance in a big event like Olympics(what Saina did).This really sets a tone and motivation for other players.For example I do not think the standard of cricket would have been the same in Kapil Dev's led team had not won the 1983 World Cup.Surely if a game like badminton can reach such heights then other games can also repeat the same.
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