Aparna Popat wants more importance to be given to doubles

Ahmedabad: Olympian Aparna Popat on Tuesday asked the country's badminton authorities to lay more emphasis on doubles play to complement Indian shuttlers' rapid rise in singles at the international level, led by Saina Nehwal.

"We have seen a total revolution in Indian badminton through the last five or six years, especially with players like Saina, (P V) Sindhu and (Kidambi) Srikanth hitting the big league. This provides us with the opportunity to plan ahead and reap the rewards and I think doubles is one key factor where we have to focus right now," said the former nine-time national champion at a panel discussion.

"This is particularly because we lost some ground after failing to cash in on the world championship (bronze) medal won by Jwala (Gutta) and Ashwini (Ponnappa). Though some effort has been made during recent years to identify players capable of doing well in doubles, I still feel that this area is still neglected," said the former shuttler during the ongoing 38th national convention of the Sports Journalists' Federation of India here.

"Players should be identified as ones who are capable to play singles and doubles right at a young age and trained accordingly. Also, support has to be given in terms of not only coaching but in the case of scientific factors as well," she noted.

Two other Olympians, Anup Sridhar and Nikhil Kanetkar, were also part of the hour-long discussion about how to take Indian badminton forward.

Anup laid emphasis on the development of a national league both for singles and doubles.

"The league should see the participation of all our top players and run into several weeks so that interest for the game is also generated among the masses. The league should also have a sufficient prize fund which would help players to approach the game professionally," said Anup.

"To groom more players, it is also required to establish state-of-the art academies throughout the country. One thing which is quite essential at the academies is the availability of quality coaches and support staff. This, of course, requires a lot of money and to that end I think that we require the unstinted support of both the union and state governments," said the former national men's champion.

Kanetkar, who is currently running an academy in Pune, spoke at length about the difficulties in getting sponsorship which was essential in ensuring a steady supply of shuttles.

"The best way to groom youngsters is to teach them the correct techniques at a young age. This is where the patience of coaches is often tested. Once we have more champion players, it is certain that we will draw more youngsters to the game. It is out of quantity that we would able to derive quality," said the former shuttler.

The seminar was inaugurated by the Gujarat Sports Minister, Nanubhai Vanani.