Let, first serve!

K Bhaskaran

Prakash Padukone had no illustions when he decided to shoulder the responsibility of leading Indian badminton out of the morass of maladministration. This was clear when, immediately after the announcement of the formation of the Indian Badminton Confederation on June 18 at Bangalore, he counselled patience for at least three months before the first sprouts of reform could be seen.

Within six weeks, we are witness to his wisdom.

The IBC president knew full well that for all the support of players and state associations, the Badminton Association of India would not just roll over and die. He knew that the BAI would do all in its power to hold on to the control of the game in the country as well as to force its antagonists to retrace their steps, come back to the official fold.

Prakash also apparently foresaw the stepping down from the BAI presidency of Mr Fazil Ahmed, and the overtures made by Ahmed's successor Mr V K Verma. He showed great statemanship in stressing that the IBC's response to the overtures, which included a 'carte blanche' offered by Mr Verma to Prakash, would not be taken unilaterally by him but by the IBC general body at its meeting.

Just as well. For, in the days after Verma, a former Sports Authority of India director (team games), had offered to fade out if Prakash would take over, the battle lines have been more explicitly drawn. For a start, both the IBC and the BAI have announced their respective calendar of tournaments to be held in different parts of the country, including selection events and Nationals. Expectedly there will be clashes of dates, which would push the players to throw in their lot with one or the other of the two bodies.

And this will cause problems for the players. Many of them are young, and in their prime, attached to organisations like Air India, it could be particularly bad for them.

Verma obviously is interested in a reconciliation between the BAI he heads and the IBC headed by Prakash. Within days of assuming office as the BAI president, he held out the olive branch to Prakash in the interests of Indian badminton. At the meeting between the two, or rather immediately after it, Verma even went to the extent of denouncing his predecessor, Fazil Ahmed, as having been autocratic. He hinted at greater transparency in all dealings, unlike in the past.

It is significant that while the BAI under Fazil Ahmed had applied for affiliation to the Indian Olympic Association, the apex body for sport in the country, and then withdrawn the application, Verma has made a fresh effort to bring the BAI into the Olympic movement. Of course, the IBC also has sought affiliation to the IOA, which for its part has to tread softly lest it is accused of interference and bias in a particular discipline.

The IBC and the Indian Badminton Players Welfare Association, headed by Vimal Kumar, Prakash's comrade-in-arms at the BPL-Prakash Paudkone Academy, have made representations to the International Badminton Federation. The response of the IBF should be ominous as far as the BAI is concerned. For, instead of mouthing the usual innocuous 'We shall have to enquire and find out', the IBF executive director, Mr David Shaw, has indicated that the wind is blowing the IBC way. He has not defended, as would a diplomatic official of the international body, a sitting member, in this case the BAI. Instead, he has said that the IBF is very concerned about the promotion of the game and the players in a member country. The writing is on the wall, and it is very legible.

Prakash has said that the IBC and its players would be able to join the mainstream of the sport. This may take three months, or six, or even a year. But this will come about. He is confident of that.

The IBF is not alone in taking a more than ordinary interest in the affairs of Indian badminton. Asian Badminton Confederation secretary-general Punch Gunalan is expected in New Delhi for the Air India tournament, under the auspices of the BAI, from July 30. He is also expected to meet Prakash in Bangalore. As he is evidently aware of the imbroglio, he could be on a mediation trip.

The former All-England champion from Malaysia, who has competed with Prakash in their playing days, is a very keen observer. In an interview with a Malaysian newspaper he had said that China's Hou Chia Chang, who was in his mid-thirties when China joined the IBF and who won the Asian as well as the Asian Games singles titles, was better than the legendary Indonesian Rudy Hartono.

Gunalan is no greenhorn as a badminton official. Hence, he should be able to make the IBC and the BAI bury the hatchet and work to revive Indian badminton's glory days of the forties to the seventies, the days of George Lewis, Devinder Mohan Lal, Prakash Nath, Trilok Nath Seth, Manoj Guha and Gajanan Hemmady, Nandu Natekar, Suresh Goel and of course, Prakash Padukone himself.