Razi wants club scrutiny to revive badminton

KARACHI: Former Pakistan badminton coach Raziuddin Ahmed on Monday urged Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) to rectify its basic structure which is the main cause of downfall of the country’s badminton.

“The PBF basic structure is wrong. It depends on fake clubs at the district level and this is the main ailment and is contributing to the downfall of badminton,” Razi told ‘The News’ in an interview on Monday.

“I came to Pakistan from England in 2008 and since then I have not seen any genuine club in Rawalpindi district. Yes on paper clubs are there, their office-bearers are there but they are fake and this is a big issue,” Razi claimed.

“The PBF is patronising these clubs. If your base is fake how can you work for badminton development!” said Razi, a level-2 coach.

“In Rawalpindi district only minor events are organised on some special occasions. There is no serious club championship. In our days genuine clubs used to exist and every club used to organise club championship which helped in hunting talent,” said Razi, who was Pakistan coach for the 2010 Dhaka South Asian Games.

Razi, educated in England, also runs a badminton academy in Rawalpindi. He is the only qualified coach in the country but the PBF is not getting his services.

Razi called for immediate country-wide club scrutiny. “If the PBF wants genuine people to come to the mainstream it should go for club scrutiny. Those clubs should be given registration who have their own halls. Yes some outdoor genuine clubs could also be registered but their votes should be less than the proper clubs,” Razi said.

He said that in his days Liaquatbagh Club was a major club which used to contribute to badminton development. “Now you will see several clubs there only on paper in the Liaquatbagh Sports Complex,” Razi said.

He said that Pakistan also direly needs standard coaches. “Unless you have standard coaches you cannot promote your badminton,” Razi said.

“The PBF conducted recently a BWF level-1 and level-2 two-week course through a Sri Lankan instructor and distributed certificates at the end without giving any assignment to the participants. In Europe a coach is awarded a certificate when he or she passes through an assessment after the course. What these coaches which the PBF prepare will do when most of them even cannot write a sentence,” Razi said.

“Promoting a game is not a joke. It needs a complete overhaul of the structure so that genuine people could come up and play their role in badminton development,” Razi said.

Pakistan has been badly struggling in international badminton. National shuttlers cannot even extend a respectable fight to Indian rivals who have been progressing rapidly.