Olympian and former National badminton champion U. Vimal Kumar, on Friday, said that shuttlers should revive the defunct Indian Badminton Players Welfare Association (IBPWA) and approach the Badminton Association of India (BAI) instead of floating a new body.
“I am willing to help them in any way. Gopi (chief National coach P. Gopichand) and I were at the helm of the association some 20 years ago. The association was active for five years. Subsequently, players lost interest and it has been defunct for over 12 years,” he said.
He also expressed anguish over the players’ attitude as many thought of floating an association only when they were left out of the Indian team. “This way, they can never be united. Players should have a clear agenda and not be there for selfish reasons,” he remarked.
Vimal said active players and recently-retired ones should take the responsibility of running the association.
“They (the players) cannot expect someone else to take the initiative and do their work. I had done this in the past. Now, I do not have the time and energy to do so. I indicated this to a group of players who had approached me earlier. I hope they present their grievances to BAI sensibly and get a positive response.”
Vimal explained how players revolted against BAI in the mid-90s when All England champion Prakash Padukone had formed the Indian Badminton Confederation.
“I took the initiative in forming the Indian Badminton Players Welfare Association. That move really helped Indian badminton then, and many of the reforms helped both BAI and the shuttlers. BAI even recognised the players’ association and permitted a player-representative to attend the BAI executive meeting to put forth suggestions from the players’ point of view.”
He said BAI permitted players to send entries directly for National-ranking tournaments, and also for international events through BAI for forwarding it to the respective organisers. “The State associations, players and BAI functioned with better understanding,” he pointed out.
