Team Herald
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CALANGUTE: Former Indian badminton star and chief national coach for the Indian Badminton team Pullela Gopichand expressed confidence over the performance of the ace national shuttlers and upcoming players at the international level.
Gopichand was speaking at a press briefing during announcement of office bearers and finalisation of the national calendar at a hotel in Calangute.
“The competition has been very good and our players have shown some excellent results. It is only because they have been pushing each other and helping each other to excel at the international level,” he said.
“PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy have been doing their best besides upcoming youngsters live Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have also been showing good results”, he added.
“Future of badminton looks to be very good not only in the singles (men and women) but also in doubles as Satwiksairaj and Chirag have already sealed their place in the upcoming Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast”, he said.
When asked about Goa’s Anura Prabhu Desai performance Gopichand said that she is very hard working on the court and has the potential to excel and make the state proud by bringing in laurels.
He believed that India can do better at Commonwealth Games 2018 to be held at Gold Coast as compared to 2014 which was held at in Glasgow, Scotland in August.
“We had won 5 medals in 2014 but now I am confident that we will put a good show and bring more medals”, he said.
“But at the same time I also feel that we will may face a tough competition from Malaysia, England and Canada”, he concluded.
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Dr Himanta elected BAI president
CALANGUTE: Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam Badminton Association was elected president of Badminton Association of India (BAI), at the elections held, at Calangute, on Tuesday.
Other office bearers include: Sr Vice President Devender Singh (Haryana). Vice Presidents: Arun Hanumandas Lakhani (Maharashtra), S Muralidharan (Kerala), Dr Oma Datt Sharma (J&K), K Punnaiah Choudary (AP), Pardeep Shrikrishna Gandhe (Maharashtra), Bijoy Koijam (Manipur), Abdul Bari Siddiqui (Bihar), Sekhar Chandra (WB), Ashok Singh (Delhi), Ratu Techi (Arunachal), Dr Alaknanda Ashok (Uttranchal), Viraj Sagar Das (UP). Advisor: Prof S. A. Raval (Gujarat). Honourary Secretary General: Ajay Kumar Singhania (Haryana), K K Sharma (Rajasthan), Event Omar Rashid (Assam), Coaching and Development Krishna Nand Jaiswal (Bihar); Honourary Treasurer Dr Anbumani Ramadoss (Tamil Nadu). Joint Secretaries: Narahar Thakur (Goa), Pradip Mohanty (Orissa), Mayur V. Parikh (Gujarat), K Prabhakar Rao (Jharkhand), S Chakrapani (Karnataka), Rajinder Sharma (Himachal), Dr Watizulu Suzumeren (Nagaland), Anil K. Choughule (MP).
Executive Members: Rajinder Kalsi (Punjab), Rajesh Kamal Rajput (Meghalay), Sanjay Mishra (Chattisgarh), Dr P Anakamma Choudary (Andhra Pardesh), Sukanta Das (Sikkim), Bamang Tago (Arunachal), Ve Arunachallam (Tamil Nadu), Surinder Mahajan (Chandigarh), Rakesh Sekhar (Kerala), Sudhir Baxi (Rajasthan), Bahadur Singh Mankoti (Uttranchal), H Sanjeev Sharma (Manipur), Shivaprakash N (Karnataka), H Lalnunsiama (Mizoram), Y Upender Rao (Telangana), Dr Nabneet Sehgal (Uttar Pradesh).
