Hyderabad: The GHMC was quick to lay claim on P.V. Sindhu after she made it to the badminton women’s singles final at the Rio Olympics, stating that she had started out at the GHMC summer camp coaching.
However, that was way back in 2005 and Sindhu’s skills were honed at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. As soon as Sindhu qualified for the finals on Thursday evening, assuring a medal for India, the GHMC officials sent out statements that she was a GHMC product. The municipal authority also released a press note with pictures of Sindhu practicing at the municipal camps stating: “GHMC paved the way for the Olymp-ic journey of Sindhu”.
According to the statement, Sindhu in 2005, at the age of 10, had sought coaching at the Guru Govind Singh Stadium at Dharam Karan Road, Ameer-pet, and had participated in several Under-12, Under-15 tournaments.
GHMC authorities said that the ace shuttler had trained with them for three years before she moved to a private academy. When DC checked with the administration of Pullela Gopich-and Badminton Acade-my, the staff informed: “Gopichand began tra-ining at his academy since 2006 and from the first year Sindhu has been a student; it is close to 11 years that Sindhu has been associated with the academy.”
The GHMC has a comprehensive budget of '10 crore for sports infrastructure but many prefer private academies like Sindhu did. The GHMC’s claims of coaching a few famous sportspersons dating back to 10-15 years and there hasn’t been anyone in the recent past.
As per records of the GHMC sports wing, the department has been successful in providing training to nine Arjuna awardees and 34 international players in various indoor and outdoor sports.
The Arjuna awardees include T. Mulini Reddy (volleyball), the late M.A. Basith (volleyball) and Ravikanth Reddy (volleyball). The international players are Saad Farooq (boxing), Bheem Singh (hockey), S.A. Samad (football), Rajini Venu-gopal (women’s cricket), B. Jagannath Swamy and M. Lyliah (Kabaddi), Pavan Kumar (cricket), D. Prasad and Pankaj (basketball).
GHMC camps also have a history of producing sportspersons like cricketers Moh-ammad Azharuddin, V.V.S. Laxman and triple Olympian Nandnuri Mukesh Kumar.
