CHENNAI: Bengaluru Blasters’ Viktor Axelsen admired the growth of Indian badminton in the last year or so. He was impressed by the exploits of PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth. He believes that badminton in India is going in the right direction and with more exposure, players will improve their skills and win more laurels.
But he also cautioned from his own experience that all cannot make the grade from the junior to the senior level. “I made a smooth transformation from the junior to the senior level. It was all about hard training and exposure. The best way to get more exposure is to play in as many tournaments as possible and importantly, quality tournaments. This league (PBL) has quality and the youngsters must use this to gain exposure,” said Viktor .
The World No 1 said that facilities in Europe for training were much better than in the subcontinent and that is one of the reasons why many players from abroad make the grade quick. “You have to have systematic professional training from a young age. One needs to have the right work ethic. You need to think and play like a professional to excel in the circuit,” opined Viktor.
Ahmedabad Smash Masters’ HS Prannoy too agrees that grass-roots training is very important. “I trained in Hyderabad with Gopichand. One has to go to a place where you get the best training. The sport is getting younger and you need to start working on your skills early on. But all cannot go to the same academy. You need to have quality academies all over. With our players’ successful run last year, there is more belief that results can be achieved. This will result in a spur of academies all over the country and augurs well for the game,’’ said Prannoy.
Many leagues have used the IPL formula to identify and nurture talent. And Prannoy feels that PBL can do the same. “PBL is the best place to spot talent. PBL structure is such that youngsters get an opportunity to play against the best in the business. So if a youngster is pitted against a top-ranked player and does well, he will be noticed,’’ Prannoy concluded.
Results: Bengaluru Blasters lost to North Eastern Warriors 2-3 (Mathias Boe & Kim Sa Rang bt Kim Gi Jung & Shin Baek Choel 15-12, 7-15, 15-12; Chong Wei Feng (T) lost to Ajay Jayaram 8-15, 13-15; Kirsty Gilmour lost to Michelle Li (T) 7-15, 15-14, 15-13; Viktor Axelsen bt Tzu Wei Wang 9-15, 15-13, 15-14; Manu Attri/ Sikki Reddy bt Prajakta Sawant/Shin 12/15, 15-8, 15-9).