HYDERABAD: The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has issued a virtual ultimatum to the players who wish to defy the rules and stay away from the scheduled national camps. "Any player wishing to plan out his own schedule will be doing so at his own peril. And, he or she will not be part of the BAI teams in any future international assignments."

This was the warning served to them after some of the national players skipped, on personal grounds, the national camp under the supervision of P. Gopi Chand.

K.Ch. Punnaiah Choudhary, BAI Joint Secretary, informed The Hindu that all players have to obey the rules regardless of his or her stature in the sport. "These players should realise that any BAI camp would be helpful to them. No personality clashes will be entertained," he asserted. This follows a high-level closed-door meeting attended by T.P.S. Puri, former national chief coach, and other BAI officials here.

Detailed discussion

Puri, who had a detailed discussion with Gopi about the whole gamut of grooming young talent over the next four years, said that all the elite camps involving players preparing for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games would be held in Hyderabad.

He stressed that the BAI was not looking at players as seniors and juniors. "Two separate groups of players were formed with specific long-term targets. While the more established ones will be focussing on the Commonwealth Games, the next line of players will be groomed simultaneously to be ready for challenges in future," he explained.

Choudhary revealed that at the instance of R.P. Wattal, Director General of SAI, the national camps for badminton, athletics and hockey will henceforth be held in Hyderabad till the Commonwealth Games.

SAI is hoping to make use of the Games Village, which is being constructed at Gachibowli for the 2007 World Military Games. The village will accommodate 2,000 athletes when completed.

It was also confirmed that Hyderabad would host badminton national camps — either for the elite or the second string of players — for at least eight months each year. Gopi will soon be assisted by a Chinese coach with whom the BAI will sign a one-year contract. The foreign coach will be there till the Commonwealth Games and the Mittal Sports Foundation will meet the expenses, said Choudhary.

AI has entered into a tie-up with Yonex and thereby the latter will completely fund at least two exposure tours for the Indian players every year. In addition, the understanding means that some of the foreign teams may also be training in India. England is likely to be the first team to come here under this deal.

For his part, Gopi is clearly enjoying his new role. "Well, with the juniors I need not stretch myself too much as the focus will be only finetuning their raw talent. Unlike the seniors where I have to focus on other aspects also," he said.

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