BHUBANESWAR: Pullela Gopichand, India’s chief badminton coach signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Odisha government on Friday to upgrade the Odisha-Sports Authority of India Badminton Academy to a training centre that will set the bar high with respect to international standards for excellence, Times of India reports.
Gopichand’s Badminton Foundation will provide technical support to the Odisha government for developing badminton training in the state and producing the best talents from there to play at the international level.
Gopichand was delighted at the development, expressing the privilege of his foundation to be joining hands with the state government.
“We are aligned to their vision to keep producing world class talent. The trajectory of badminton as a sport in India has hit new highs in the recent past, with top players like Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu winning major honours at regular intervals.
“The academy in Odisha will help in keeping the momentum up and we hope to nurture great talent right from the grass roots to the international levels,” he said.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said that the Gopichand Academy will be another feather in the state’s cap of encouraging sporting excellence as it targets producing more gold medallists for India in events such as the Olympics. The state will also be playing hosts to the Hockey World Cup later this year and is supporting Indian Hockey and athletics amongst other initiatives.
“Under the guidance of Gopichand Academy, I am confident that we will be able to nurture and groom world class talents of the future. I want Odisha to win Olympics medals for India and we are all committed to make this into a reality,” Patnaik said at the MoU signing event.
The regional badminton academy began operations in May 2017 and has 27 trainees from Odisha, Assam and West Bengal as well as three coaches including international player Romen Ghosh.
Besides badminton, the Odisha government also launched a coffee table book and documentary which celebrates the state successfully organizing the Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) in July 2017.
Gopichand, Patnaik and state sports minister Chandra Sarathi Behera released the book which revealed how Odisha set up world-class infrastructure for the event within a span of 90 days.
