BAI doles out cash for CWG winners

Hyderabad: The Badminton Association of India (BAI) felicitated the Indian badminton team for the successes at Commonwealth Games on Saturday evening, doling out cash reward to the tune of Rs 1.3 crore to the players.

BAI president Himanta Biswa Sarma and chief guest Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Dhruv Batra presented all the cheques at a ceremony in Delhi.

“It gives me immense pleasure to be here to celebrate the heroics of our players at the Commonwealth Games. They have not only created history but have once again underlined India’s reputation as one of the top performers globally,” Sarma said.

“We would like to thank the government, Sports Authority of India and the BAI for all their support over the last few years. I thank the president for organising such a wonderful function to appreciate the team’s performance,” Gopi said.

The team which made history by winning India’s first ever gold medal in the mixed team event was presented with a cheque for Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 lakh to each of the 10 players).

The BAI awarded Rs 20 lakh to Saina Nehwal for winning the gold medal in the individual event, and Rs 10 lakh each to P. V. Sindhu and K. Srikanth for winning the silver medal in their respective events.

The young men’s doubles pair of Rankireddy Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty, who etched their name in history books by becoming the first ever men’s doubles team from India to win a medal in the CWG, were awarded Rs 15 lakh (Rs 7.5 lakh each).

The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy were also given Rs 7.5 lakh (Rs 3.75 lakh each) for their bronze medal winning feat.
The entire coaching staff was also honoured for their contribution towards the historic achievement. Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand was felicitated with Rs 10 lakh while doubles foreign coach Tan Kim Her was given Rs 3 lakh.

Assistant coach Siyadathullah Siddiqui was given Rs 1.5 lakh while the trio of Kiran, Johnson and Gayatri (all physios) were awarded Rs 1 lakh each for their efforts.

Youth summer camp.
The BAI took the opportunity to announce that it would be conducting a training camp for the youth for the first time during the summer.

The camp will be conducted under the guidance of legendary Prakash Padukone, who will be assisted by U. Vimal Kumar. Junior national coach Sanjay Mishra will be the convenor of the initiative.

Reiterating BAI President’s vision, the association’s general secretary, Ajay K Singhania, said, “BAI’s aim is to not only excel internationally but also to reach out to every corner of the country to tap fresh talent. The involvement of a top notch former player like Prakash Padukone will only bolster the movement to find the best future crop for India.”

The camp will be held at the Padukone-Dravid Centre of Excellence on the outskirts of Bangalore for a period of 15 days during the month of June and July in three batches, with each batch comprising of 40 players.

A total of 120 kids (boys and girls included)  from across the country in the age bracket of U-13 and U-15 will take part in the camp. Each state federation will nominate four players (both boys & girls) and 16 kids will be shortlisted for further training with the best among them will even be sent for training abroad.