After the Badminton Association of India (BAI) named him as one of the four advisors, Dronacharya S. M. Arif says, he is ready for the ‘huge responsibility’.
“We will be having our first meeting on July 1 in Delhi and getting a clear perspective of what exactly our roles will be in the days to come. But one thing for sure is after Himanta Biswa Sarma took over as president of BAI, there is a conscious effort to ensure transparency in the whole functioning of national body in terms of selection of players, conducting camps, appointment of a panel of coaches,” the 73-year-old Arif told Sportstar after conducting a training session Fateh Maidan Indoor Stadium on Thursday.
“I don’t see any problems in working with anyone. It is all about mutual aspect and personally I have no issues or reservations with anyone,” Arif said on how it would be working with the likes of chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, who also will be closely involved in these efforts by BAI to give the sport a major fillip.
“I will reiterate my appeal to BAI to ensure that the camps are held in all the five zones of the country as was the case in 70s and 80s to give the abundance of talent available there a platform to grow up in the league unlike now where the focus seems to be on only a couple of Cities,” Arif said.
“In fact, this kind of system not having camps in other places has virtually dried up the assembly line of players from other centres unlike till early 90s when good players used to emerge from all over the country,” he explained.
“It is good to have a system like the new one being conceptualised. But at the same time, it is important to define our roles. For instance, as an Advisor will I be confined say to a coaching camp, involved in selection process, planning and other related subjects,” says the renowned badminton coach from Hyderabad, who coached the likes of Gopichand.
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