NAGPUR, January 20: The Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Prakash Padukone Academy, Bangalore, are planning to rope in Chinese coach Hou Chia Chang to impart special training to Indian shuttlers and coaches.The BAI is learnt to have sent a letter to the Chinese Badminton Federation urging them to send Chang for at least five to six weeks. BAI sources added the Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament, which was scheduled to be played at Jalandhar this month, would now be held at Chennai in October. The tournament was postponed due to the non-availability of top shuttlers.The Indian Open, which carries a prize money of 2,50,000 US dollars, will be played at Bangalore in November. As part of its development plan for the year 1998, the BAI seeks to set up a training centre for North-Eastern region at Guwahati.The BAI has also planned to name the all-India major ranking tournaments as "The Indian Grand Prix". Apart from V V Natu Memorial and Krishna Khaitan memorial tournaments, five all-India tournaments for seniors and three for juniors would be played this year. Each tournament will carry a cash prize of Rs five lakh, while Rs three lakh will be at stake in the junior Indian Grand Prix.Meanwhile, BAI secretary S S Mani has announced various cash prizes for national tournaments. The mini nationals and junior nationals will have a prize money of Rs three and four lakh, respectively, while Rs five lakh would be at stake in the senior nationals.
