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Tackling ‘drift’ at Gachibowli Stadium

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Staying within the rules, the Badminton Association of India will be trying to make things a wee bit more comfortable for the Indians on court during the World championship to be staged at Hyderabad from August 10 to 16.

In the past two editions of the Indian Open held at the 3,500-capacity Gachibowli Stadium, the players, particularly the Indians, had complained about the excessive ‘drift’ caused by the ill-directed air-conditioning ducts at the venue.

This time, the BAI President V.K. Verma has taken the call to give a “model condition” for all the players by eliminating the ‘drift factor’.

“Our players find it more difficult to deal with ‘drift’ than, say the Chinese or the Malaysians. So we want to eliminate this factor altogether,” said Verma on Friday.

“Drift is a complex thing to handle. We had it during the Malaysian Super Series in January this year. The problem of drift is far less in European countries than in Asia where the conditions tend to get humid.

“The engineers at the Gachibowli Stadium are trying to change the direction of the air-conditioning duct towards the spectators from its present position that faces the field of play.

“If this technical tinkering does not give the desired results, we will run the air-conditioner for about three hours till the start and switch it off. Then hold a session of play for around two hours, switch on the air-conditioner to cool the venue before commencing action for another two hours,” said Verma.

“Anyone who watched Saina Nehwal’s quarterfinal match at Beijing (Olympics) knows how drift played havoc with her game after the change of ends in the decider. Drift affects every player and they have to deal with it. Here, our idea is to eliminate it,” said Verma.

What about the Indians practising for a fortnight at the arena and getting accustomed to the drift and plan their strategy accordingly?

“Usually, we get the arena three days before the start but this time, it will be five days. It is not inexpensive to have the arena for practise for an additional five or seven days because it costs around four to five lakh rupees per day to run the air-conditioner and lighting.

“I think, even if three or five more days are given for practise, it can’t really make a player so wise to revamp his/her game to tackle the drift. So it is better to give them the conditions they are used to,” reasoned Verma.

On the prospects of the Indians in the fray, Verma sounded realistic. “In the past, we used to have four to five players in the World championship but this time, as many as 22 will take part. Let’s accept the fact that our players whether Saina, Chetan Anand or the doubles pair of Jwala and Diju are not expected to reach the semifinals.

“If Saina makes the semifinal or any other player/pair reaches the quarterfinal, it will be a bonus.”

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