CHENNAI: Keeping in mind the upcoming Thomas and Uber Cup, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has given the green light to conduct a camp for 26 elite players, a camp that was proposed by chief national coach Pullela Gopichand on behalf of the Badminton Association of India (national governing body).
The preparatory camp will commence from September 7th until September 27th at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad.
The Thomas and Uber Cup is scheduled to be held in Aarhus, Denmark from October 3-11. All players will be put up at the academy itself to ensure that they remain safe.
This means the likes of Ashwini Ponnappa and Lakshya Sen, who’ll be coming from Bengaluru, will be using the facilities. Ashwini, Lakshya and some of the other youngsters included in the preparatory camp had been training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru.
They are expected to reach Hyderabad soon. Former national coach U Vimal Kumar, who’s a coach at PPBA, welcomed SAI’s move and felt that the camp will be a chance for shuttlers to get vital touch ahead of international competitions, due to commence from next month.
“Everybody is in the same boat (no competitive action for some time). The camp will be a big opportunity for players. Maybe, the coaches will put them through match sort of situation and I feel it should be okay. The first match will always tough, but you have to make a beginning,” Vimal said.
The Thomas and Uber Cup will mark the return of elitelevel international meets after a gap of over 200 days. Vimal, who formerly helped Saina Nehwal reach World No 1, felt matches are the only route for certain players to find their bearings.
“Six months is a long time for any good level player to be out. You can train as much as you want, but the competitions are totally different. The players can get into the groove only by playing matches. Certain players can get going from the word go, but there are others who take two or three tournaments to get into that mode. I’m glad that the BWF is taking this initiative.”
Saina and Parupalli Kashyap, who had been training on their own, will also be joining the camp. Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth and N Sikki Reddy have been training at the facility for some time now. The camp will include seven coaches, four support staff members and three sparring partners.
“I’m happy that SAI and BAI have been proactive in ensuring that sporting activities can start,” Gopichand was quoted as saying in the SAI release. All incoming players will have to undergo RT-PCR test for COVID-19 before they travel to Hyderabad and will only be allowed once they produce COVID- 19 negative certificate.
Satwik plans
Meanwhile, the status is unclear on Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Satwik, who’s currently in self-isolation after testing positive for coronavirus, said that he’ll be taking a fresh test on Monday.
Based on the result, the shuttler said that he’ll have a discussion with Gopichand and plan way forward. The duo are not part of the camp.