NAGPUR, APRIL 13: In a bid to promote the game in the country the Badminton Association of India (BAI) is planning to start a School of Badminton on the pattern of schools in Indonesia and China. The School of Badminton will be sponsored by the Birlas and will be set up either in Bangalore or Pune, from the coming academic session.According to highly placed sources in the BAI, the idea to start a School of Badminton came up when the Birlas expressed their interest in promoting the game. BAI executive president and former all-England champion Prakash Padukone and BAI general secretary S S Mani had a talk with the Birlas and struck a deal.A Chinese or Indonesian coach will be in charge of coaching at the School, with the Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) secretary Punch Gunalan having assured the BAI a foreign coach. Initially, 16 players, between the age of 9-14, will be selected for the School and would be provided with schooling, accommodation, racquets, kit and monthly stipend. The number oftrainees will be increased to 32 as and when the infrastructure for the School gets ready.A three-member committee will scrutinise the performance of the players and the final decision will be taken by the coach. A Chinese coach is expected to join the senior players soon, as the ABC is going to hire the services of a Chinese coach for a year, and he will be sent to the member countries as per turn for advance coaching.Indian Open Prize money may be reduced: The prize money of the Indian Open Grand Prix slated to be played at Bangalore in October may be brought down to $ 100,000 from $ 250,000. The final of the tournament is scheduled to be played on November 1.According to sources, the BAI is negotiating with BPL and International Management Group (IMG) to sponsor the event. The BAI, which does not want the event to be called off like the other European circuit tournaments because of the poor financial position in the country, is learnt to have sent a proposal to BPL asking them to sponsor the eventand reduce the prize money by $ 150,000, if need be.Training centre: The BAI is expected to soon start the North-Eastern region training centre at Guwahati. The deals have almost been finalised with the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) to sponsor the centre.BPL withdraws: Now, the host associations will have to arrange the prize money announced by the BAI for the major ranking tournaments as the BPL has withdrawn as the sponsor of domestic tournaments.BPL, which had sponsored theIndian Badminton Confederation (IBC) tourneys last year, did not show interest in renewing the contract with BAI.
