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Vol. 2. No. 1 February - March '09For Private Circulation Only

*Indian nationals*All England *Swiss Open

>2 Feb '09 - Mar '09 GUTS - A Window into World Badminton

Arvind Bhat took a long time to win his first national title, but the moment, when it came, erased all the bitter disappointments

By TR Balachandran

Arvind Bhat came very close to winning his first national men’s singles tile in 2002, when he was 22 years old. In one of the most rivetting national men’s singles finals, Arvind fell to Abhinn Shyam Gupta after serving four times for the title. It was the only senior nationals held in the 7x5 format. Abhinn, with his perpetual nemesis Gopichand out of the way after his famous All England win, fought like one possessed to thwart Vidyadhar in the quarters, after being down 2-5 in the decider, downed Nikhil Kanetkar in the semis after being down 4-6 in the decider and finally pipped the gallant Arvind after saving four match points in the final game. It was a memorable match for the champion and the vanquished and also for the spectators and coaches of the players.

However, Arvind persisted, reaching the finals on three more occasions on alternate years, falling to Chetan Anand (Hyderabad, 2004), Anup Sridhar (Bangalore, 2006)

and Chetan again (Goa, 2008). 2009 was the fifth time he was making the finals and it was a question in the minds of many whether he could ever blow away his blues to win the title this time. Whether the

absence of his arch rival Chetan due to injury helped make his task any lighter none can guess, for they had split their last two meetings 1-1 over the last one month.

Arvind finally did it on 18th Feb at 6.30 pm at Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium, Indore, battling the quicksilver Kashyap and the demons within, looking dazed and bursting into tears after the final point was won. It was a moment to cherish for a lot of his sparring partners, fans and coaches, many of whom were reduced to tears at this emotional moment. His mentor Prakash Padukone sat with his young trainees at his Badminton Academy in Bangalore and watched this match live. He must have definitely appreciated the steely resolve of his student and his professional approach to the game. His coach Vimal who was in his corner on Wednesday would have known a bit about what was happening in his ward’s mind as he himself won his first title after four unsuccessful bids in 1989.

For young Thulasi of Kerala, these championships were a great outing. She did what no other Kerala woman player has done so far, playing in the final of the women’s singles. She ousted top seed Neha Pandit in the first round and continued her fine run through to the final. She showed great mobility and maturity to down Neha, Trupti Lavanya, National Junior champion Sikki Reddy and Mudra Dhainje in the semis, all in straight games.

In the final, Thulasi came across a fitter and more experienced Sayali who was not ready to miss the opportunity to win her maiden national title. Sayali has had to play hand-maiden to Saina Nehwal and Aditi Mutatkar on numerous occasions in sub-junior and junior events. In the absence

A moving moment

>> NatioNals >>

>3Feb '09 - Mar '09 GUTS - A Window into World Badminton

of these top two women shuttlers, Sayali methodically ground all opposition with her fitness and consistency. She quelled the formidable challenge from seasoned veteran Trupti Murgunde in the semis in a gruelling three-setter. Trupti fought gamely in an effort to add a maiden women’s singles title to her impressive list of victories but came up second best in a close battle punctuated with long rallies and fine shot-making.

Sanave and Rupesh were going for a fifth successive doubles title at Indore and there were not many teams who could pose a serious challenge to them. But the scratch combo of Diju and Anup Sridhar almost dethroned them in the best match of the tournament. Anup the second seed in singles, not downcast with his defeat to Kashyap in the semis, fought ferociously, lending ample support to the marauding Diju. They saved a match point and held one before they succumbed to a much relieved Sanave /Rupesh in the semis. They won comfortably against the new kids on the block Arun Vishnu and Tarun Reddy in the final. Unfortunately, there were very few battles worth mentioning in the paired events.

Jwala and Shruti were hardly stretched except in the final of the team championships against Karnataka where the scratch team of Meenakshi & Ashwini Ponnappa stretched them to three games. In the mixed doubles too, the only quality match was the final between world no. 17 Diju/ Jwala and Arun Vishnu/ Aparna Balan where the top seeds took three games to win their third title together.

This year’s nationals will be remembered for its smooth conduct and the introduction of the international tournament management software which was used for the first time in a senior nationals.

“I had to keep telling myself that the nationals was a normal tournament – to train my mind, and to believe in what I was saying. Because even though I kept denying it, it would’ve been bad if I’d lost.” ARVIND BHAT

“We had second thoughts about our career because there were few national-level tournaments in 2008. We wondered what we were training for. But I kept training for myself because I understood that in the end, only performance counts.” SAYALI GOKHALE

“Our combination works because our game styles are different. I’m confident at the front, and he takes care of the back. It works because we are friends off court. For me, that’s very important. At the end of the day, we need to comfort each other when things aren’t going well.”

RUPESH KUMAR on partner Sanave

“We’ve played as children, so we know each other. We don’t find fault with each other even when things don’t go well. Rupesh’s best attribute is that he can convert a defensive situation into an

attacking one, with his strokes and his positional understanding. He’s one of the world’s best at that. At the net he has great control, and he's very cool.’ SANAVE THOMAS on Rupesh

“She is phenomenally gifted and does not get cowed down by any kind of opposition, especially in international tournaments, qualities not usually demonstrated by Indian women players. DIJU on Jwala

The mental side plays a big role. When we Indians go on court, we start thinking immediately about the country our opponents come from, you know, like a reflex, we think of China or Indonesia, and we worry unnecessarily. Strategy-wise we are superior to them, we are more flexible tactically. If w e can maintain our fitness, we can match any pair in the world. JWALA on doubles

BQCheck your Badminton Quotient

What record did Rupesh Kumar set at the national championships?

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Answer to last edition's BQ: Bitburger and Bulgarian Open

Winners: Vishal R. Bhat, Antony Aloysius, Dhirendra, Dilshad,

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Sound bytesSound bytesIndia's national champions speak up

'All photos courtesy BadmintonPhoto.com

>4 GUTS - A Window

DIJU VALIYAVEETIL was the tragic hero on February 17, the semifinal day of the Senior National Championships in Indore. Ever since the once world no. 15 team of Sanave Thomas and Diju broke up in 2004, Diju has been trying to dethrone the newly-formed team of Sanave and Rupesh, with different partners. With Jaseel Ismail, the aging warhorse, Diju succeeded on the first three occasions. Since then, Sanave and Rupesh have ruled the roost, winning five successive national doubles titles. Diju tried several partners, but found them wanting when things mattered most. Diju teamed up with Olympian Anup Sridhar for the senior nationals.

Finally, when the dust settled after the best match of the tournament, a battered and bruised Sanave/ Rupesh duo won, but only just, after saving a match point at 20-21 in the third game.

Diju hails from Ramanattukara, a suburb of Kozhikode, the historic port city of Kerala where Vasco Da Gama landed 500 years ago.

TR Balachandran of GUTS catches up with Diju for a freewheeling conversation:

GUTS: What are your first memories?

Diju: My first vivid memories are of swimming in the pond in our family compound, playing cricket matches, representing teams sponsored by shops in the vicinity, having hearty food after winning matches, etc.

When did badminton come into the picture?

My elder brother used to play badminton. Sports Authority of India was holding selection trials all over Kerala in various sports. I attended a trial and got selected. My first choice, though, was cricket. Since there was no cricket coaching offered, I opted for badminton and was admitted to SAI centre, Thrissur, under coach Balachandran Nair. When he got transferred, Vinod Narayan took over my coaching.

Do you remember your match against Chinese superstar Bao Chunlai in the European Junior Circuit in 1999?

Yes, I served 12-9 in the third set against him and lost. After two years, he won the Danish Open men’s singles title and was recently ranked no. 2. Of course, then I did not know that he was such a good player and played freely.

You were ranked as high as world no. 15 in men’s doubles and top-seeded at the French Open once. Tell us about that.

That was a season when we participated in a lot of tournaments and had done reasonably well in them. We won the Hungarian International and reached the quarters of a Grand Prix event.

Most people say that the arrival of Indonesian coach Hadi Sugiyanto changed Indian men’s doubles. Do you agree?

Yes. He got together about eight specialist players and trained them systematically. Of the eight, Sanave, Rupesh and I benefitted the most.

What was the reason for the split with Sanave?

It was entirely Hadi’s decision.

What was your reaction to the split?

I asked Vimal Sir who was the Chief national coach about it and he said that it was Hadi’s decision to forge a new combination with Sanave and Rupesh. I left it at that. Sanave gracefully asked me

whether we should leave the national camp and continue to play together. I said no.

Don’t you feel that the split was unfair to you?

I frankly don’t think that I am the best of the lot. But, the split spoilt my chances of adding to the national doubles title which I won with Sanave in 2002. I also feel that given a slightly better player as partner, I can beat Sanave and Rupesh.

When did you switch to mixed doubles?

It was after Jwala and I won the title in the Jakarta Satellite in 2005 that Hadi suggested that we continue to play in international events.

Tell us about Jwala.

She is phenomenally gifted and does not get cowed down by any kind of opposition, especially in international tournaments, qualities not usually demonstrated by Indian women players.

Any thoughts on Indian badminton, especially the paired events?

There are very few specialist doubles players now. There have to be many more playing and specializing in these events. We need more doubles camps with specialized training to improve the qualities required for a doubles player, especially speed. Most importantly, we have to provide adequate exposure to players of all age groups, so that they get adjusted to the frenetic pace at which doubles is played at the world level. I would like to emphasise this aspect. I find that even if you train players continuously hard in coaching camps they will still fall short if they are deprived of this exposure.

DIJU: UP CLOSE

Proudest moments

Beating the world no. 1 pair of Nova Widianto and Liliana Natsir of Indonesia in the Korean Open this year; winning two Grand Prix mixed doubles titles (Bulgarian and Bitburger Open in 2008).

Promising youngsters

Kerala’s Suraj and Bennet, National Jr Doubles champions 2008. Among the girls, Prajakta Sawant of Maharashtra has potential.

Greatest doubles player I've seen

King Dong Moon of Korea

My hobbies…

Watching Malayalam movies and playing cricket

‘The split with Sanave was Hadi’s decision’

‘I should’ve been patient’: SainaSaina had a disappointing All England, where she was expected to do well. She ran into old nemesis Pi Hongyan of France in the first round. “I don’t want to think of that match,” Saina said. “I just don’t remember what I did. My game was full of mistakes. Maybe I was a bit tense.”

However, the next week at the Swiss Open, Saina came within an inch of beating world No.3 Lu Lan of China. Having upset reign-ing world champion Zhu Lin in the second round (the second time that Saina has beaten her), Saina led 17-13 in the deciding game, just four points away from the best win of her career. Inexplicably, however, Lu Lan took eight straight points and marched into the semifinals.

“I was playing well, but she suddenly started picking up all the shuttles,” Saina reflected. “She started anticipating all my strokes, and when it became 17-all… you tend to get demoralised. I was trying to hurry things up and attacking because I wanted the point. Maybe I should have been patient and stayed in the rally. Lu Lan is more experienced, maybe that made the difference. Also, I had had just an hour’s rest after my previous match. Mentally I was a bit tired, although physically I was fine. The lesson I learnt was to be more patient in such situations.”

The Indian performance overall in the All England and Swiss was average, except for mixed pair Diju-Jwala and Arvind Bhat, who had their moments.

Diju and Jwala Gutta performed superbly against the reigning Ol-ympic champions, Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyo Jung, in the second round of the All England. The Indians fell 21-23 22-20 21-14 “I thought they would be much tougher,” said Diju, “but we didn’t really have a problem against them.” It increasingly looks like Jwala and Diju are well equipped to crack the top-ten.

Arvind Bhat, meanwhile, fell to Gong Weijie (China) in the first round of the All England, but troubled Lin Dan in the opener at the Swiss. Arvind fell 19-21 21-17 21-16 in an hour-long match.

Feb '09 - Mar '09 GUTS - A Window into World Badminton >512

cm

8.5 cm

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Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei and Wang Yihan won the titles that mattered early in the year

Mark Phelan/ Badzine

Lin Dan claimed his fourth All England (March 3 to 8) in impressive fashion as he reaffirmed his position as the greatest men’s singles player on the planet in beating world number 1 Lee Chong Wei in a repeat of the 2008 Beijing Olympic final.

Wang Yihan, the 22-year-old Chinese world number 8, claimed her maiden All England title at only her second attempt when she beat defending champion Tine Rasmussen in three sets 21-19 21-23 21-11. China completed an historic clean sweep as Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng delivered a fifth gold medal and leaves the world in no doubt that the Asian nation continues to be the benchmark in professional badminton.

The crowd went wild as both Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei entered the stadium this afternoon in Birmingham. There was not a vacant seat in the house as all assembled were transfixed as they eagerly awaited the repeat of the Olympic final from Beijing last August. The boisterous fans were not to be disappointed as both players dished out a master class in professional badminton in what was a perfect advertisement for the sport in general.

“I think we both played very well today and really the winner today was the game of badminton. I think we gave the spectators what they wanted and Lee Chong Wei was as much a part of that as I was. I have won everything there is to win in badminton now but I

still have motivation to be the best ambassador for the sport I can. Without doubt this is a huge motivation for me,” said Lin Dan after his historic win.

Lee has his revenge

Malaysian world no.1 Lee Chong Wei took his long awaited revenge over world and Olympic Champion Lin Dan with a 21-16 21-16 victory in the final of the Swiss Open Super Series (March 10 to 15) in Basle, a week after the All England. It was their 15th head to head in individual events, as opposed to team competitions, but lifted Chong Wei only to 4-11 after a frustrating 18-month spell against his big rival. Lee’s coach Misbun Sidek said he was not surprised. “I am not surprised because he found a way to neutralise Lin Dan during the All England. But it did not work out then as he followed Lin Dan’s attacking pace and started to get tense when he could not break through,” said Misbun. “I kept in touch with him in Basel and told him not to rush into things when playing against Lin Dan, who plays a fast attacking game and has a very high element of surprise. But he lost the tactical battle when Chong Wei started to engage him in long rallies. That is when he got frustrated and began making mistakes.”

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Feb '09 - Mar '09 GUTS - A Window into World Badminton>6

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Will the world game be different in a few years? What are the ways in which it will change? Will some strokes be obsolete? The badminton community responds to these questions:

The first seminar of GUTS on Indian badminton (Feb 7, 2009) featured some interesting talks and discussions.

As part of its efforts to open up discussion around Indian and world badminton, GUTS conducted its first seminar on the 31st of January (Saturday), at KBA, Bangalore. The purpose of the seminar was to give an opportunity to the badminton com-munity (coaches, players, parents, media and others) to air their opinions, and to discuss trends, problems, and other issues surrounding the game.

The seminar featured talks on varied topics including the challenges of junior coaching, making a career in badminton in current economic times, changing trends in the world game, recovering from injury, and a panel discussion on Indian badminton. Speakers included Shivaprakash (junior

coach and founder of White Peacock Academy), Nandan Kamath (founder, sports management firm GoSports); and Indian internationals Anup Sridhar, Arvind Bhat and Sagar Chopda. Participants in-cluded several international players, senior coaches and parents of players.

One of the many interesting points raised

was Anup Sridhar’s forecast of how the singles game would change over the next five years. Anup talked of the difficulty of acclimatizing to the drift in various halls, especially due to the AC. He also dispelled fears that the singles game would increas-ingly begin to resemble the doubles. “It’s true that at the junior level the game re-sembles doubles,” he said. “It’s a more at-tacking game, without many tosses or high serves, and a lot of drives and smashes. But you can’t play only that kind of game at the senior level because our defence is a lot better, so however much the game changes, you will still see the deep tosses and high serves.”

GUTS decided to raise this in the ‘India Forward’ section of this edition.

ADITI MUTATKAR: World No.36

A/c halls: AC in the hall is a problem which all top players face. You have to make a lot of changes in your game, especially if it is defensive. The few initial tournaments were difficult, I couldn’t really guess the flow of the drift. With playing more and more you find out the way.

Backhand: I don’t think it will vanish. It is an important tool to have. With men’s

badminton which is getting faster and faster the use of it might become lesser. But in women’s badminton I think it will still remain, as a defensive tool. Just to be used to get back in the rally.

Style: From the women’s badminton point of view, the badminton right now is again pretty defensive, nobody really plays a drive-and-push game, mainly it’s defensive containing of really long rallies. I think only

Tine Rasmussen plays the drive-and-push game, and does so pretty effectively. Even she uses it sparingly, just as a surprise.

BIJU PRASAD, Anup's childhood coach

Anyone who has watched the all England 2009 final between Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei will agree that the playing style we saw during the era of Frost and Prakash is still around and is not going obsolete. Yes, the game has moved on with more speed and attacking style of play but the basics of creating an opening remain, with backhand a useful weapon. Attacking game without perfection of strokes is not going to win games.

DON HEARN, Badminton writer, Badzine

I was under the impression that the back-hand had been dead for over a decade. The only players I know who use it as anything but a last resort are Taufik and Kenneth Jonassen. Taufik is all precision but Jonassen, before his retirement, had a powerful backhand drive/smash which I hardly ever saw from another player this decade. I think I remember Bao Chunlai doing so once. With the emphasis on at-tacking, running to the back corner for a jump smash is preferred by everyone and reacharound forehands are everyone’s second choice and have been since the be-ginning of the millenium, as far as I can tell.

As for general trends, there is one that I

New directions?

>> india forWard >>

Feb '09 - Mar '09 GUTS - A Window into World Badminton >7

thought was coming but hasn’t really. That is, I thought all singles players would be tall by now. This trend was apparent early this decade when Bao, Jonassen, Park, Chen, Hafiz, Wong and Gopichand were at the top or on their way there. Still, though, only a maximum of half the top 20 and exactly half of the top 10 are over 6 ft at present. That isn’t just the older ones, either. Sure, there are taller guys coming up like Chen Long, but plenty of men of aver-age height are still among the up-and-com-ing generation. For example, Tago Kenichi, Andre Kurniawan Tedjono, Tommy Sugia-rto, Daren Liew, and Mohd Arif Abdul Latif are all well under 6ft. Thailand’s Tanongsak might be a little taller but he is still no giant. Even in a case like Korea, where there are plenty of tall players around, Hong Ji-hoon and Park Sung-min are among the newer singles specialists.

High serve

The high serve has been dead for years, too, as far as I can see. The women still use it but it is rare in the men’s game. Perhaps

the players were older when they dispensed with it completely in the past but yes, I’d say it’s gone from high school level here in Korea. Maybe even middle school.

Playing style

I can’t really say anything with authority about styles. When I think defense, I think of Roslin, Jonassen, Gade and Taufik, particularly because of their prowess in defending when under attack. As for a finesse game that isn’t based primarily on attack, the most obvious in this decade have been Gopichand and Hafiz. Still, while these two are effectively off the map, Park Sung Hwan is a newer player who is not known first and foremost for his attack. I don’t know anyone else in that category but then, I don’t know all the players. Anup Sridhar is not primarily an attacker, though, is he? What about Chetan Anand? Could these fall under the category of finesse players?

MJ MOHANACHANDRAN

Chief Coach RSC Badminton Academy Regional Sports Centre, Cochin, Kerala

A/c halls: All the tournaments abroad are conducted in A/C halls. If a player cannot adjust to drift it shows his lack of control and mastery of strokes. As a coach I would take them to outdoor courts for some experience.

Backhand: The use of backhand is not bad, if you can convert them from any corner. The science behind backhand and forehand is, if you play with backhand you are facing away from the opponent. Moreover, the range of motion of your hand is limited, it is against the natural biomechanical move-ment of the hand. Only in one case is it faster – with the backhand service. While playing with round-the-head you are facing the opponent and can foresee to some extent the movement of the opponent. Also, the forehand offers more variations and generation of more power.

JAN LIN, Sports writer, Badzine

The psychological element of the game is raised to a new high because games have easily become so tight under the 21 points system amongst the top tier players that patience and persistence are often the main reasons for one to come through.

Even for the lower ranked players, the 21-points system allows games to easily race to 11-0 in a couple of minutes before a player can settle into the game and you will need to be very tough mentally to catch up from the deficit.

But to me the most distinctive change is in the women’s singles - the level of at-tack, aggression, speed, stamina have all increased especially with the 21-points

system. The women’s singles game is a lot more complete and may I say “masculine” than before.

The Backhand

The backhand has never really been in favour, has it? (When I was a junior many many years ago, the coaches have always emphasised on training the overhead clear - the technical term for Don’s “rea-charound forehands”, and we will always get criticised by coaches for using the backhand when the overhead clear/smash option is there.) Like Don said it, not many players can use the backhand as an attack shot and the 21-points game favours at-tacking shots. Moreover, the backhand as a high-risk shot makes it even more unfa-vourable with the 21-points system.

Style

Depends on what you mean by ‘style’. To me, each player will always have his/her unique style, the way they move around the court to execute a shot is always dis-tinct from the other even if they are from the same country! But uniformity is seen in terms of players preference of adopting ‘low risk’ and less fanciful play than before due to the increasing stakes under the 21 points system.

Training methods

Definitely an increase in intensive physical and psychological training (and perhaps less emphasis on skills) - which is why I can totally understand why teams like China would take a few months off for physical training or encourage players to lose games so that their opponent team mate can conserve their energy for the final. Because tiebreakers have become the norm these days since the inception of the 21 points system and it is totally about the survival of the fittest.

This 21 points system also increases the speed of the game and the possibilities of injuries -- good fitness will help in pre-venting injuries. So with these current demands of the singles game, I trust that if any country is non-democratic like China is, I bet you they will be doing the same - every player would secretly hope the same because injury and physical exhaustion is a huge price to pay. So I’m often less critical about the Chinese’s antics as the commer-cialisation of the sport, which has been at the expense of players’ interest.

Feb '09 - Mar '09 GUTS - A Window into World Badminton

Printed & Published by Thomas J. Kunnath. P4, KSSIDC Industrial Area, Mahadevapura, Bangalore - 560 048. Printed at National Printing Press, Koramangala, Bangalore-560 095. Email: thomas@kunnath.in

>8

PBSI Scouts for non-Java talentJakarta: Indonesia’s badminton authorities are planning to host a series of tournaments nationwide to net new talent from outside Java as part of efforts to speed up the regeneration of players. “Speeding up the regeneration of our shuttlers is a priority in our programme this year,” Jacob Rusdianto, secretary-general of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), told The Jakarta Post. “We will hold tournaments to select young badminton talent from outside Java within the next three to four months.”

Throughout the history of Indonesian badminton, top players have mostly come from Java-based clubs, with the luxury in terms of proximity to send players to PBSI’s national training centre in Cipayung, East Jakarta. A few exceptions are Rexy Mainaky, who hails from North Maluku, and world mixed doubles No. 1 Liliyana Natsir, from North Sulawesi.

“We now have to start taking the initiative to pick these gifted players right from their hometowns,” Jacob said. Indonesia came home empty-handed from the latest two international tournaments this year - the All England Super Series and the Swiss Open. Agnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post

Li Yongbo happy as a larkBeijing: Li Yongbo, head coach of the Chinese national badminton team, was thrilled with the success of his team’s European trip – the German, All England and Swiss Opens. China won 12 gold medals. China swept all five gold medals in the All England Open, the first team to achieve this feat since 1938. Li’s squad took another three titles in Swiss Super Series.

”We made history because in the past 71 years no other team achieved such a great feat in the All England Open,” said Li. “All this proved that our training is very successful and effective in the past months. I’m very happy to see some young talents during the tournaments like Wang Yihan. She did a great job by winning three champions in women’s singles.”

“Our focus is still on the Guangzhou Sudirman Cup in May and World Championships in India in August,” said Li.- Xinhua

Badminton homage to local hero KA, Antalya (Turkey): The Mediterranean town of Ka staged a sport tournament with not one meaning but two: The Spring Sports Tournament is paying homage to a late journalist, Beyhan Cenkçi, as well as welcoming spring. The tournament started with sailing and cycling races and had volleyball, badminton and football competitions. Kas, the town near Antalya, is commemorating Beyhan Çenkçi, a late journalist, by naming the spring sports tournament after him. “He first arrived by a small fishing boat, because at that time it was the only way to reach Ka, since there was no road connection. He did not spare any effort to introduce Ka to the world but did it with care to its nature and history,” a senior citizen said. -Hurriyet Daily News

HC cracks down on monopoliesNew Delhi: Taking serious note of the ‘monopoly’ of certain sports administrators in the country, the Delhi High Court has suggested that there should be a fixed tenure for the office bearers of all the national sporting bodies. “If such a tenure clause was not enforced, the office bearer could be repeatedly elected from a particular region and continue to dominate the affairs of the association after

having created a monopoly over the sports,” said Justice Geeta Mittal while hearing a petition, challenging the continuation of erstwhile hockey federation chief KPS Gill.

The court said the absence of a restriction on tenure of office bearers of sporting bodies could result in diversion of funds, foul practices in the selection of players and development of the game. “National Sports Federation would then not remain representative of the hope and aspirations of the sports persons of the entire nation,”

the court said. “A limited office tenure certainly would have the impact of minimising, if not eliminating, allegations, criticism and elements of nepotism,

favouritism and bias of any kind,” the court added. -PTI

Badminton Writers award for GailGail Emms was the senior award winner at the 27th Badminton Writers’ Association annual awards lunch at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, an annual event held during the All England. The award was for her achievements in the sport, including 2004 Olympic silver medal and the 2006 world and Commonwealth titles with Nathan Robertson and the European women's doubles title with Donna Kellogg. Gail, who received her award of a framed photograph of her last Beijing winning moment from BWA chairman William Kings, is now Badminton England’s Ambassador as well as a mentor to some of England’s rising doubles stars like Gabby White and Jenny Wallwork, who were quarterfinalists at the 2009 All England. -Baofe.co.uk

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