Badminton coach wants authorities to forget past

KARACHI: Former Pakistan badminton coach Raziuddin Ahmed said on Friday that poor coaching standard was the main reason behind the national team’s first round exit in the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship in Thailand.

“Our coaching standard is very poor. Our coaches are unable to prepare the players as per international requirements,” Razi told ‘The News’ from Islamabad.

“Unless you imparted quality training to your players they would not be able to impress in international circuit,” he said.

He stressed that the Pakistan Badminton Federation should utilise all the available resources for the betterment of the sport.

“If there are a few good coaches who know how to prepare the team for international events then their services should be utilised,” said Razi, a highly qualified coach.

Razi, who did most of his coaching courses in England, said that the PBF should forget what happened in the past and take all the stakeholders along so that the sport could be developed.

“The federation should forget now that it had rivals in the past. The differences now should be ended like other federations have done. It’s time to think positive, otherwise the federation would not be able to bring any improvement in the standard of the game,” Razi said.

Accusations of human trafficking and violation of international rules damaged the sport in the country.

Pakistan also remained suspended from international action for quite some time.

It was after a long time that the country sent players to Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2014 after Badminton World Federation (BWF) lifted the ban.

At the Asian Junior Championship in Thailand, Pakistan performed very poorly in boys singles and doubles.

In boys singles, China’s Hong Yang Weng whacked Shehroz Jamil 21-4, 21-7. Lam Houhim of Macau defeated Zohaib Khalil 21-15, 21-15. Thailand’s Pachaarapo Nipornram overpowered Shahmeer Iftikhar 21-14, 21-11. Kyohei Yamashita of Japan outgunned Ahmer Jalal 21-5, 21-14.

In doubles Natchanon Tulamok and Sukrit Maungli of Thailand overcame Ahmer Jalal and Zohaib Khalil 21-12, 21-13.

The pair of Kyohei Yamashita and Naoki Yamazawa of Japan defeated Shameer Iftikhar and Shehroz Jamil of Pakistan 21-9, 21-7.

Razi said losing to Macau and Thailand was not a good sign for future of Pakistan badminton. “It’s really disturbing,” the coach said.

He said the other countries had developed a lot. “Others are progressing at a high pace and it would be difficult for us to arrest our decline in the game unless we thought positively,” the coach added.