Maiden year of Odisha Badminton Academy marred by feud

Bhubaneswar: As Bhubaneswar aims to make a mark as the emerging sports capital in the country with huge investments to develop sports from the grassroots level in the State, controversy and feud within the newly-established Regional Badminton Academy is posing a threat to budding talents.

Established under the joint collaboration of Odisha government and Sports Authority of India (SAI) in May 2017 to nurture and train budding badminton talents in Odisha and its nearby states, the academy's first year has been marred by controversies.

Sources said allegations of wayward administration by head coach Romen Ghosh and his undue favour towards Bengal players rather than home-grown talents have forced several Odia players to quit training.

Even many have raised eyebrows over the removal of Odia coach Manoj Sabat who was serving as the deputy under Ghosh.

As per reports, parents of several trainees have written about these issues to the Sports Authority of India (SAI)’s Regional Director at Kolkata, Manmeet Singh Goindi and urged him to appoint Sabat as the academy’s coach.

Parents have alleged that Ghosh was intentionally trying to favour his home state players more and was even clearing them for training without even considering their fitness.

Meanwhile, even as the State Government or the SAI is yet to take any decision, Ghosh himself quit his post with effect from April 2018.

Refuting any kind of partiality and unfair management, Ghosh said “If I do not rope in quality players into the training academy then the home players will not improve substantially. I have never done any injustice to anybody. It is a norm of the SAI itself that top players in the state-level will automatically qualify for national level so to get that competitive edge I had brought six top badminton talents from Bengal to Odisha.”

In the meantime, SAI has appointed senior coach HS Rawat as the head coach-cum-manager of the academy.

Board’s regional director Goindi said that Ghosh’s one-year contract expired on February 13, so what is the meaning of his resignation.

Similarly, the state government has also assured to ensure that badminton flourishes in the State just like Hockey.

"We are in discussions with the SAI and hope that the matter will be resolved soon," Manoj Padhi, Deputy Secretary of Odisha Sports department said.