‘Second string of paired events lacks gravity’

Dinesh was present in the selection committee meet of the BAI organised at Lucknow on Saturday as a government observer. “I discussed the issue as a former player during the meet. We were of the opinion that there should be a ‘catch-them-young’ strategy in which talented players between 13 and 15 years should be identified and combinations made out of them,” he said.

On Monday,Khanna also visited the Indian junior team’s camp being held at Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy (UPBA) in preparation for the World Junior Championships and had a chat with the players and the coaches. Talking about the facilities at UPBA,he said,“The courts are good. Adequate amount of shuttlecocks are also available. It has a good gymnasium. I hope that the camp will be in full swing by tomorrow. For the last ten days,the campers will also be trained from a foreign coach who will be coming from Hyderabad.”

The Arjuna awardee suggested that the juniors should be also be given exposure in international tourneys for seniors as well.

“What I mean to say is talented juniors like Sameer Verma,Pratul Joshi,K Srikanth and others should start playing in seniors’ international tournaments of a lower grade for advantage of having international rankings when they mature for higher level. International exposure will help them in tough international meets ahead,” he explained.