tiol Badminton Academy to come up in NE: Himanta

From a Correspondent

New Delhi, May 5: A tiol badminton academy is likely to come up in the northeastern region to identify the hidden talents.  

Disclosing this in New Delhi on Friday, Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “We are mulling the idea of having five tiol badminton zones across India and one of which will be in the Northeast.”

He pointed out that Northeastern region has lots of talents which only needs to be harped.

After taking over the charge as BAI president, Sarma, on Friday has chaired a conclave of the association which was attended by current champions in the field of badminton, former players and coaches and took their suggestions on how to take the game to the extra mile.

“The federation would strive to make badminton the most played sport in the country by setting up academies across the tion. We want to have state of the art academies in every zone of India so that young boys and girls take to the sport in a big way,” he said.

Referring to the next Olympic Games, Sarma said that he has already started the ball rolling by setting up a task force for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Our first target is to corner a rich haul of medals in the next Olympic Games in line with Prime Minister rendra Modi’s dream of making the country an Olympic power,” he said.

“We will do everything that is needed to help our supremely talented players and make them champions of the world,” he added.

In fact, he has also taken initiative of early release of prize money; players usually receive after getting medals.

For effective functioning, every state association will be given the responsibility of developing and promoting the sport in their region. “This will be done in a transparent way for best results,” he said.

On the initiatives taken by the BAI, noted Badminton player Jwala Gutta said, "I believe with such positive thinking, badminton in India will definitely take a new shape."