Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik felicitated Wednesday, the Indian men’s team members and their coach for their maiden spectacular Thomas Cup victory last month. India won this coveted cup for the first time in the history of Thomas Cup since the tournament started in 1948-49. Apart from hockey and cricket, this is only third sports discipline where India became the World Champions in a team event.
Chief National coach Pullela Gopichand, players Kidambi Srikanth, Dhruv Kapila, HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat, Vishnuvardhan Goud, GK Prasad, MR Arjun, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were felicitated at a special function organised here at Lok Seva Bhawan convention centre.
Naveen honoured Gopichand with a shawl and memento. All the players received Rs. 10 lakh cash awards each, a shawl and a memento. The players also presented the Chief Minister a Team India jersey autographed by all the players.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that India has now become a production centre for world champions in badminton. It is the dawn of a new era of Indian domination in badminton. Across the country there is great interest among the kids and parents in badminton.
Congratulating the Indian players and coaches on becoming the World Champions, Naveen said that it’s a historic achievement and proud moment for the entire country that ‘our boys have become World Champions’ in a tough sport like badminton.
A decade back it was unthinkable that India will dominate a sport like badminton. Thanks to the dedication and commitment of coaches like Gopichand and support of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), Central and state governments, India has been able to consistently perform well at international level in the last 10 years, Naveen stated.
Speaking on state’s effort to promote badminton, the CM said, “In Odisha also, we are investing hugely in badminton. In partnership with Gopichand, a state-of-the-art high performance facility will be launched in next few months,” Naveen said.
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“We are constructing 89 multi-purpose indoor halls across the state. These will primarily cater to the development of badminton players in Odisha and even from outside the state. Many champions will emerge from Odisha in the coming years,” Naveen asserted.
The Chief Minister announced that his government is also likely to host the Odisha Open badminton tournament as an annual event and support more such international championships.
While every state is promoting its own sportspersons, Odisha is the only state that is promoting all from across India. Odisha is one of the pioneers in promotion of sports now, Gopichand said in his address. “This celebration is an inspiration for us. So, thank you Odisha for this big support,” said an elated Gopichand.
Sports & Youth Services Minister Tusharkanti Behera gave the welcome address and Sports Secretary Vineel Krishna offered the vote of thanks.
Among others, Higher Education Minister and president of Odisha Badminton Association Rohit Pujari, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, Development Commissioner PK Jena and OMC chairman were present on the occasion.