Chief Minister Patnaik honored all the players of the Indian team and the National Coach with cash awards of Rs 10 lakh each along with shawl and memento. The players also presented the Chief Minister a Team India jersey autographed by all the players.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Patnaik 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,” he added.

Congratulating the Indian team players and coaches on becoming the World champions, he said that a decade back, it was unthinkable that India would start to dominate a sport like badminton.

“Thanks to the dedication and commitment of coaches and support of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), Central and State governments, India has been able to consistently perform well at international stage in the last 10 years,” he added.

Speaking on efforts of Odisha to promote badminton, he said that the State Govt has been investing hugely in badminton. “In partnership with Gopichand, a state-of-the-art High Performance Centre will be launched in next few months. We are constructing 89 Multi-purpose indoor halls across the State. These will primarily cater to the development of badminton in the state. Many champions will emerge from Odisha in the coming years,” he said.

Naveen said that Odisha would like to host the Odisha Open as an annual event and support more such international championships.

Replying on behalf of the champion Indian Badminton team, Chief National Coach Gopichand, who runs his academy in Hyderabad and is also a vice-president of the Badminton Association of India, said that while every state is promoting their own sportspersons, Odisha is the only state that is promoting all sportspersons across the country.

Sports & Youth Services Minister Tusharkanti Behera gave the welcome address and Commissioner-cum-Secretary Sports & Youth Services R Veenelkrishna offered the vote of thanks.

Among others, Higher Education Minister and Odisha Badminton Association President Rohit Pujari, Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Development Commissioner P K Jena were present on the occasion. However, Lakshya Sen, the top singles player of the Indian team and none of the coaches were not available at the felicitation function.

Though former England champion Pullela Gopichand has been the chief coach of the Indian badminton teams for many years now, he was not with the Indian team in Bangkok due to prior commitments. Following coaches were there in Bangkok and played a role in the maiden title triumph for India in Thomas Cup.

U Vimal Kumar: After an illustrious career as a player, Vimal Kumar, who won the national title in 1988 and 89 and was also a member of the India team that won a bronze medal in the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul.

Vimal is the co-founder and chief coach of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore and a former chief coach of the Indian team. Having trained players like Gopichand, Saina Nehwal in the past, Vimal is currently the personal coach of top singles player Lakshya Sen. In Bangkok, he was the senior-most coach and oversaw the training of the singles players.

Mathias Boe (Denmark): A top doubles player of his time, Boe won a silver medal in the 2012 Olympics in London and was a member of the 2016 Thomas Cup-winning Denmark team. Boe had joined the India team as coach of the doubles combination of Rankireddy-Shetty after his initial contract ended last year after the Tokyo Olympic Games.

A multiple-time winner on the BWF circuit, Boe ended his playing career in April 2020 at the age of 39. It was his inputs and timely interventions that helped Rankireddy-Shetty come up with their best performance of recent times in the final against Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, saving four match-points in the second game.

Yoo Yong-Sung (South Korea): Yoo is a former South Korean player who won the Olympic silver medals in mens doubles with Lee Dong-soo in the 2000 and 2004 Games. He is currently the chief coach at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore where he also coaches Lakshya Sen.

Siyadath Ullah: As a senior coach with Gopichand academy, Siyadath has played a key role in the development of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy, Gurusaidutt, Parupally Kashyap and Tarun Kona and other protegees of Gopichand academy.

Vijaydeep Singh: He has been working with Indian doubles players for the last many years. Now a reputed coach at the domestic level, Vijaydeep belongs to Patiala.

Earlier in the day, the national shuttlers visited the construction site of the Badminton HPC - Dalmia Bharat Odisha Badminton Academy inside Kalinga Stadium. They also visited the Odisha SAI Regional Badminton Academy in Saheed Nagar and interacted with the trainees.
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TOP: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with players of the Thomas Cup winning Indian mens badminton team and Chief National Coach in Bhubaneswar on 8 June 2022.
RIGHT: Players of the Indian mens badminton team at the construction site of the Badminton HPC in Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on 8 June 2022.