India needs to set up a badminton academy in every state to hone the amount of talent the country has and bridge the huge gap that exists currently with powerhouse China, feels shuttle legend Prakash Padukone.
India, currently, has two renowned academies — the two-decade-old Prakash Padukone Academy in Bengaluru and the P Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad run by the national coach, plus an academy in lucknow, according to the 1980 All-England men's singles champion.
"But we need more. We need 30 academies in the long run in order to compete with China. That's the sort of talent we have. Each state should have one academy, run by dedicated and properly qualified coaches who are prepared to put in the hard work," the 60-year-old said.
"Players come from all over the country, but there's no academy in the north barring the one in lucknow. The government is also spending on foreign coaches.
"If each state cannot have an academy, SAI (Sports Authority of India) should have one in each of the six zones including north east. But the key is to find the right personnel to manage them. There are good SAI coaches. The need is to identify them and give support and recognition. That's the key," said the 1978 Commonwealth Games champion.
Prakash said that these zonal academies can act as feeder lines to his academy, the academy of national coach Gopichand and the one in lucknow which can be treated as national academies.
"SAI has centres. Some are doing well and some are not. Once they produce results it's important to give recognition. From there (the zonal or state academies) we can pick up talent to be further trained Bengaluru, Hyderabad and lucknow which are like national academies. That's the right way (to go about)," he said.
He welcomed the revival of the badminton league.
"It's good for the game. I hope it happens and happens every year and there is no break in between.”