Comparison of Badminton Denmark and Badminton India | A Study

When 58 lakhs population Denmark won 8 Olympic medals and made their 28 players in Top 50 BWF Ranking, What would be the plan of 137 crore population India?

Bo Jenson, CEO, Badminton Denmark stated in pride that Denmark's Club Structure, their Coach Education Program, and Team League Culture are the vital factors that made them compete better than the top countries in Asia.

What is Badminton India doing now?

Let us find the fact........

"The Danish Miracle" by Bo Jenson, CEO, Badminton Denmark

We summarize the article written as "The Danish Miracle" by Bo Jenson, CEO, Badminton Denmark at badmintonbladet.dk

Domestic Club Structure
Coach and talent development program
Domestic Tournament League
Regional Talent Centres and Elite Centres

Jenson highlighted the above key factors for the success of Badminton Denmark (BD). We compare those factors with the Indian Scenario.

Domestic Club Structure

Thoughh there are around 1400 clubs for 1,30,000 players in the country, DB represents 706 Clubs and 94,000 registered players. These 706 clubs under the umbrella of Badminton Denmark are very well-organized offering training sessions for most of their members. Most of them have more than one educated coach organizing each of the training sessions either for groups of players or on an individual basis. The objective of most of the clubs is to represent in the Danish team league. Badminton Denmark offers a wide range of opportunities for the players and clubs to participate in a relevant team league for all ages and levels.

In India, even a small town has five clubs and a huge number of clubs available for recreation and beginners. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) had recognized only two clubs in Hyderabad and Bangalore, but both those clubs have a national interest center (SAI and Tata Sponsored) and private business wing operated in parallel. These centers are in the southern part of the subcontinent which has spread of 3200km from North to South and 2900km from East to West. Only those two centers will get most of all sponsors, BAI and Sports Authority of India(SAI) funds. No Clubs other than these have been recognized by BAI/SAI. Some clubs and coaches will be recognized ad-hoc basis before certain international circuits, that too only for senior players. BAI hadn't nurtured any clubs to engage or recruit to have certified professional coaches in any clubs.

Opportunity

India has a successful club structure model lead by BCCI for cricket which has its root in each and every district. BAI too has a similar structure, but the fund, power, opportunity, and knowledge are not distributed to all their district clubs but piled up with two centers. BAI should identify and recognize one or two clubs of a district, and ensure that those clubs should organize well-planned training sessions by BAI certified coaches.

Recognized Clubs

BD - 706

BAI - 02

Coach and talent development program

Badminton Denmark has also developed an extensive coach development program, continuously helping clubs educate their coaches, and ensuring them at all times, if wanted, to get updates on the newest knowledge within training programs, physical training, mental coaching, techniques, etc.

BAI depends on the SAI NIS certificate programs which were very old and not benchmarked with BWF Coaching standards. BAI does not design or adopt any badminton-specific coach education/certification program. There are no continuous coach education programs organized by BAI. BAI never nurtures the clubs to conduct the training program with certified coaches. Most of the district clubs have coaches who are school/college dropouts or uneducated about Badminton Skills.

Opportunity

BAI can develop a new program or adopt BWF certification programs and identify the experts to produce more certified coaches in India.

Coach Edu Program

BD - Yes

BAI - No

Domestic Tournament League

The club team league is spread out all over the country, structured regionally, and each year the best teams from the different age groups and levels qualify to participate in the National Team League Championships. The crown jewel and top-level feature of this is the Final 4, in which the four best professional teams compete against each other over two days, and where the winning team can call themselves the official Danish Team Champion. A championship that has been played continuously since the early 1930s.

Each year, in cooperation with its 706 clubs, Badminton Denmark also arranges several hundreds of individual tournaments for players of all ages and levels. As a player, you participate or qualify in a tournament based on your ranking points, ensuring that all players compete against other players on both an equal level and within the same age group.

BAI doesn't have National Team Championships for their Clubs/States/Districts. BAI schedules Individual tournaments annually in a knock-out format.

Opportunity

BAI can plan Team Championships for their State members. At present, the School Game Federation of India(SGFI) and Unversity Game council have the Team format. But most of the professional players are not regular school students, and players should enter the junior and senior international circuit before their university age. During Individual National Championships, the Round Robin format can be tried.

National Team Tournament

BD

Yes, Both format

BAI

No Team League

Has Individual Knockouts

Regional Centres and Elite Centres

The establishment of six regional Talent Centers is spread out all over the country, where the best junior players from the respective regions, are offered training sessions at the center as an add-on to the training and practice in their own club. The national seniors and best of the junior players are offered practice on one of their two Elite Centers.

BAI recognized two elite national centers and hadn't established any permanent regional training centers.

Opportunity

BAI can recognize regional centers at each state with experienced and educated coaches.