Ace shuttler and Arjuna awardee Jwala Gutta's first Badminton Academy at Moinabad, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, was inaugurated on Monday. Talking about her dream of opening a distinguished training facility, Gutta had earlier said that the academy will open the gates for players with “personalities.”
“We need two things for making a city a sports hub, first we need poster boys and girls and role models for young kids for inspiration," president of the Telangana Badminton Association KT Rama Rao said while inaugurating the pools. Further, he added, "The second is to have world class facilities where they can become champions. We have these two things falling in place beautifully at this centre. I do believe there is scope to do more and Jwala needs support from the government and we will give support to her in whatever way we can. I believe this will eventually become a factory of making champions."
Last year, announcing the launch of her academy Gutta had said. “I want to develop an individual in a way that it reflects who they actually are.” With training facilities for badminton and swimming the institute in Hyderabad is built on a 55-acre land, comprising 14 courts, swimming pool and so on.
Check out the first set of pictures of the recently-inaugurated academy:
Also sharing a video on her Instagram, Gutta gave us glimpses of what to expect from her dream academy. She wrote: "We are OPEN."
Her ecstatic fiancé, actor Vishnu Vishal congratulated the sportstar and tweeted:
'It was high time'
In a previous interview with The Indian Express, Gutta had revealed “Having an academy would probably also give me some strength. It’s like my muscle. I can speak more. I go to selection committee meetings and 90 percent of them are from one place. I am left defending the other 10 percent. I think we needed second option in our country. It was high time".
Gutta's long-term plan is to convert this into a Sports Authority of India centre. “I have already approached (SM) Arif sir. He will look over the academy overall. We will appoint two foreign coaches. I will need at least 10 coaches for 14 courts, so I am looking for Indian coaches. But I’ll be mentoring. I know who’s capable of coaching and who is the real coach (laughs). Coaching is very pious and frankly, it’s a lot of hard work,” she had explained.
Also Read: Seven facts to know about Indian Badminton player Jwala Gutta
Gutta has made India proud by winning many medals at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Uber Cup. She is a two-time Olympian and a champion in the 2014 Glasgow Games in women’s doubles.
Feature Image Credit: Rediff.com
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