In accordance with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Sports Ministrys initiative to groom coaches as the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic by staying at home, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) held the first session of its Online Coach Development Programme on Monday.

The highly enriching session saw an overwhelming response from over 800 participants from all over the country, making it one of the highest-participated online coach development conferences ever held.

"Badminton is one of the most played sports and the most growing Olympic sport in India. Today''s great response from coaches is a testament to that. And it gives us more motivation to continue to do such innovative reach-out programmes in the future," said BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania.

The online programme will be held 5 days a week for three weeks and the entire course has been divided into 39 topics, giving an enriching opportunity for coaches at various levels to interact and learn from elite level coaches led by chief national coach Pullela Gopichand. The first session that turned out to be a huge success was conducted by Gopichand and foreign coaches Agus Dwi Santoso and Namrih Suroto.

Commending this unique initiative, Gopichand said, "This is a great platform where the experience of our foreign coaches will help to sharpen the skills of coaches at all levels throughout the country. This kind of wonderful insights into coaching and basic perspectives is something nobody thought was possible in lockdown."

The online programme focussed on badminton discipline and the process to develop technical skills for beginners on the first day. In an interactive session, the experienced Indonesian coach, Santoso explained, "It is very important to be sleeping on time as that helps in having better oxygen flow in the blood, which, in turn, helps in a more active and energetic performance from the player in the morning. This and a nutritional breakfast are crucial components for a disciplined regimen."

The programme will continue till May 8 with development of footwork, single stroke and double stroke, types of multi-shuttle drills and how to prepare a player for a match being some of the topics to be discussed apart from sessions with physiotherapists.