India’s chief national coach Pullela Gopi Chand believes that with the launch of the GoSports Foundation Badminton Development Programme at his Academy here on Monday, the sport and the performers will get a new direction and hope as they chart out their careers in the big league.
Speaking after a formal launch at the Gopi Academy in the presence of nine-time national badminton champion Aparna Popat, who is also the programme mentor, the former All England champion said Indian badminton is witnessing a revolution thanks to the achievements by some of the lead shuttlers.
“Amidst this backdrop, I believe that the right kind of support to young athletes can make a long-term impact and through this GoSports Foundation programme we hope to keep the momentum going and build a positive environment for the young shuttlers,” he said.
“This programme is not only aimed for improving the skills of the players in the sport but also to help them evolve as a complete personality through holistic support,” Gopi said.
“It is great to see someone like Aparna, who herself was a champion athlete, get involved in this programme. She knows what exactly the players look for, we hope to give a new direction to the sport in the days to come,” Gopi said.
Aparna said that having supported the likes of K. Srikanth, H.S. Prannoy in the past, GoSports Foundation is keen to extend the benefits of this programme to other deserving shuttlers.
“The scholarship programme and the athlete education programme are the two main components with the former aimed at brilliant young players and the latter seeking to build a knowledge sharing platform targeted at a wider base of players and create smarter athletes for the future,” she said.
“Our intention is to produce many more champions by trying to understand what the players require,” she said. “The entire selection is fool proof and is always subject a critical review and any deserving player left out for different reasons will be accommodated in the next phase,” Aparna said.
Programme director of GoSports Foundation Saisudha Sugavanam reminded that the scholarship programme for badminton began in 2012 with five athletes.
“Thanks to the success stories of shuttlers like Srikanth and Prannoy, para swimmer Sharath Gayakwad, golfer S. Chikkarangappa under the programme we are now expanding it to include more talented youngsters even while focussing on grooming doubles players.
The list of scholarship winners for 2015 under the programme is as follows:
Juniors: Prashi Joshi, Priyanshu Rajawat, P. Gayatri, Simran Singhi, Vaishnavi Reddy and Samiya Farooqui.
Doubles: M.R. Arjun & Chiraj Shetty, Ashwini Bhat and U.K. Mithula, Satwik Sai Raj and Krishna Prasad.
Seniors: Harsheel Dani, Kaushal Dharmamer, Aditya Joshi, Ruthvika Shivani, Rituparna Das, G. Vrushali, Shika Gautam, Sameer Verma, Kidambi Srikanth, H.S. Prannoy R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt and Saurabh Varma.
