Gopi Chand signs deal for new badminton facility in Hyderabad

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has signed a MoU with national badminton coach P. Gopi Chand to set up an indoor badminton facility which will have air-conditioned courts and a sports science centre.

Dipak Gupta (left), Joint MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Pullela Gopichand, Chief National Badminton Coach at the launch of Kotak’s CSR Programme in Sports in collaboration with Pullela Gopichand Badminton Foundation in Hyderabad on Monday.

The efforts of chief national badminton coach, P. Gopi Chand, to take coaching to the next level got a major fillip with Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd signing a MoU with him on Monday towards setting up a new world class indoor badminton facility and other related centres at a cost of Rs. 35 crores adjacent to the existing his Academy near Indian School of Business (Gachibowli) here. 

Mr. Dipak Gupta, Joint MD of Kotak Mahindra, and Gopi formally exchanged the signed documents on Monday. 

“We hope to start soon the construction of the new facility which will have six air-conditioned courts, a full-fledged sports science centre and a research and development and documentation wings” informed Gopi.

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“For long, I have been feeling that the badminton players are getting tired especially in summer after long training sessions for want of air-conditioned facility. Yes, still it is a tribute to them to still come up with such stunning results at the highest level,” felt Gopi.

“So, this facility will essentially mean plugging that one big gap in our whole endeavour to keep winning laurels at the highest level. At international level, drift factor has been one major issue which often posed serious problems to the Indians. Now, once this facility is in place, we will ensure that they are better equipped to handle it better,” he explained. 

“Yes, this will exclusively for the international shuttlers to start with who will be using this facility. In fact, the pressure is so much now we are not able to satisfy all these players in allotting the courts and hope these six new courts will take care of this problem now,” he said.

File Photo: Gopi Chand at his academy at Gachibowli, Hyderabad.

 

“For long, I have been focussing on the issue of producing coaches who meet the aspirations of roughly 10,000 players across the country. With the setting up of this facility I am sure coaches development centre here would usher in a new chapter,” Gopi said. 

The sports science centre will have top quality resident nutritionists, physiotherapists, strength and conditioning experts on board for the all-round development of the players, he said.

“Yes, we need to lot of research in identifying prospective coaches to ensure that the gifted, young talent doesn’t get drifted away for want of support at the young age,” he said.

Questioned whether this new facility would not mean additional burden on him, a smiling Gopi said it would but with some scope of spending less time. 

“For instance, now I can get the specific inputs about a particular player’s training programme, the diet required, the different parameters like strength, endurance, fitness levels from the respective heads and accordingly make a critical review for better results,” he said. 

“The whole project should be completed in about 15 months and should mean a huge difference to the sport itself and I am sure it will benefit the players immensely,” Gopi concluded. 

For his part, Dipak Gupta says the project is part of the Corporate Social Responsibility and that they would also support the coach certification and fellowship programme for the coaches and players.

"We are glad to be associated with a gentleman-champion like Gopi whose commitment, passion and joy in producing champions are something which they are all proud off," Gupta said.