Ready for another date with destiny

IT WAS well over a decade ago that India, spearheaded by Prakash Padukone, made the final round of the Thomas Cup and the venue for that memorable occasion in 1988 was New Delhi. The country's shuttlers are once again ready for another date with destiny as the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup qualifying rounds get under way in New Delhi on Sunday (February 13).

Lot of hope has been generated among the Indian fans following the upswing in the performances of the Indian players for the past few years. National champion P. Gopi Chand has been at his career best high of No. 26 in the World rankings and youngsters like Nikhil Kanetkar, Abhin Shyam Gupta, Siddarth Jain have proved their mettle on the European circuit. In Aparna Popat, the Indian Uber Cup squad has a potential match winner. There was a time when Indian players dreaded foreign opposition and suffered from inferiority complex, but constant overseas exposure has boosted their confidence.

The morale too is high and so are the preparations. The wisest thing that the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has done in recent years is to shift the venue of the National badminton camp to Bangalore's Karnataka Badminton Association Stadium. It is not that other venues are substandard, but in terms of facilities for training, nothing comes quite so close to the KBA complex. The Chief coach, Mohammed Arif views it as a ``lucky'' venue for training. The Indian squads for the Commonwealth Games trained in KBA and they returned from Kuala Lumpur in 1998 with a clutch of medals and Arif, hopes that Bangalore will again prove ``lucky'' for the gruelling stint ahead.

What makes training in KBA a pleasure for the players is unlimited time access to the ten courts and they get everything they need under one roof - from racquets to designer clothes from a retail outlet. Need a sauna? KBA has it and a pool too. It has a multi gym for the physical work outs. After a hard day, they can relax in their air- conditioned rooms, watch TV or listen to music. A multi-cuisine canteen meets their gastronomical needs. They need to go out only for jogging.

Prakash Padukone, as a youngster has trained in dingy, dim lit halls, but had vowed that at least the next generation of players would have all the facilities and that has now been provided to them.

``The reason, why KBA has been so popular as a training venue is that players can leave all the worries and concentrate solely on training. We have ensured that the teams have the best facilities so that they are relaxed mentally and physically . They have an important assignment on hand and all of us know it and we tried our best to make their stay here as pleasant as possible'', opined Prakash.

``When you think of training, I don't look beyond KBA'', said Gopi Chand. His words are echoed by other players . The coaches had a free hand in running the training schedule and Prakash Padukone was always around for consultation as coaches Arif, Vimal Kumar, Uday Pawar , Leroy D'Sa slogged it out with the men's and women's teams.

The accent of Bangalore camp was to get the players totally fit and become a fighting force. ``They had been on various tours, before they came here .So when you are playing a competitive circuit, there is a dip in fitness level. We have worked on that pretty hard here. Besides that, we have planned team strategy for our semi-final league matches'', said Arif.

Arif was very confident that the teams will enter the final round in Kuala Lumpur. ``My optimism is based on the form and high fitness level of the players. If Gopi Chand , Nikhil Kanetkar and Abhin Shyam Gupta play the way they did in European circuit a few months ago, I don't see any reason, why we shouldn't make it to Kuala Lumpur'', said Arif.He also expressed his satisfaction with the doubles team of Jaseel Ismail and Vincent Lobo, Vijaydeep Singh and Markose Bristow. ``We are not just sticking to those two combinations alone, we are trying various permutations and combinations to field a second strong doubles pair. We had asked players like Gopi Chand, Ajit Wijetilak and Siddarth Jain to play the doubles.'' In the super league, India is clubbed with Korea, Japan and winners of Group `B' from preliminary round, which is likely to be Australia. Arif expects India to beat both Japan and Group`B' qualifier and enter the knock out and ultimately make it to the final round as the third team.

On the distaff side, Indian hopes rest on Aparna Popat, Manjusha Kanwar, and in the in-form youngster, B. R. Meenakshi and Neelima Choudhry. Neelima, has replaced an injured Ch. Deepthi in the Uber Cup squad. In doubles, the team boasts of three pairs - Madhumitha Bhist and P.V.V. Lakshmi, Archana Deodhar and Manjusha Kanwar and the young duo, G. Jwala and Shruthi Kurien. The coaches expect India to cross the preliminary hurdles, but the going will be tough in the super league.

The Indian shuttlers had to leave for Delhi on February 5 so as to get accustomed to the conditions at Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium. ``Because of very high dome and huge space, the shuttles need a better control and we also get a head-start over others, if we train early there'', said Arif.

The only regret the coaches and players had was they had trained little more in Bangalore.

One certainly hopes that the hard grind in Bangalore certainly pays off and Prakash Padukone signed off saying ``it is tough, but not an impossible mission''.

KALYAN ASHOK

Bangalore

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