HYDERABAD: India’s chief national badminton coach P. Gopi Chand always makes it a point to stress on the contribution of Sports Authority of India (SAI) in the success story of shuttlers at the highest level. And he has a reason too as one of his academies is funded by SAI.
After SAI hired Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo to train the singles players in the Gopi Academy in April, the results have been stunning, especially in the men’s section with the likes of K. Srikanth, B. Sai Praneeth, and H.S. Prannoy dominating the circuit like never before.
But, how exactly does SAI help badminton in terms of monetary support?
In an administrative sanction on August 11, 2017, SAI has cleared boarding charges of ₹650 per day per head for those in the senior national camps (wherever they are) for 82 days till September-end. Then, there is food supplements/ energy drinks/ juices charges at ₹400 per head per day only for the players, besides lodging expenses of ₹1,500 per head and the maintainence expenses of ₹10,000 each per day for Gopi Academy and Prakash Academy on all training days.
Significantly, the SAI sanction clearly states that any inclusion/ deletion and late joining of campers shall not be entertained without prior approval of the competent authority.
SAI also makes it mandatory for the national coach/ coach in-charge of the national camps to submit a monthly expenditure statement on the last day of the month and utilisation certificate within 15 days of completion of the camp to the SAI Executive Director (Finance).
The best part of this is that SAI releases 75% of the total estimated expenditure as advance to BAI as all arrangements for both the camps at the Gopi and Prakash academies are to be made by the national federation.
“Effectively, SAI spends roughly about ₹15 crore per annum on players, coaches, maintenance charges including electricity bills and also travelling expenses for tournaments,” says a senior BAI official.
“That is why we are all grateful to the SAI for its great support and this is a continuous process as part of winning more medals in 2020 Olympics,” he signed off.