Four generation of women’s badminton in India will come together at a webinar – Moving On With Badminton – on August 2, Sunday. Four leading ladies from different eras of Indian badminton will deliberate on the past, present and future of the sport in India during the hour-long virtual chat show.
This will be a galaxy of icons who have collectively dominated the women’s badminton horizon in India from 1970 to 2020 along with the likes of Aparna Popat, Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta.
Delhi Capitals Badminton Association president and former national champion Ameeta (Kulkarni) Sinh will be joined by veteran Ami (Ghia) Shah, Madhumita (Goswami) Bisht and PV Sindhu. It will be a medley of nearly fifty national championship crowns along with an Olympic medallist, Commonwealth Games and World Champion.
The webinar is a brain child of Ameeta, who has returned to active badminton scene as an administrator with a commitment to pay back to the sport that has given her recognition, name and fame.
“Every drop of sweat has a story behind it from 1970 to 2020,” says Amita, who will be hosting event as well as participating in it as a player.
“This Webinar seeks to understand, shed light and guide young badminton enthusiasts and aspirants to understand what it takes to make champions. It will be a half a century of the stars, athletes, champions, Olympians who ruled women’s badminton in India – a prolific legacy seemingly impossible to replicate.”
None of the participants needs an introduction. But to put the might of the penal in perspective, Ami (Ghia) Shah has won seven singles, four mixed doubles and twelve doubles national titles in the decades of 1070s and 1980s. She was decorated with the prestigious Arjuna Award in 1976.
Madhumita, also a team India coach and recipient of the Padma Shri Award in 2006 as well as an Arjuna Awardee in 1982, has clinched twelve mixed doubles and nine singles titles during 1980s and 1990s.
Ameeta with four national titles to her name has dominated the national scene in the intervening period between retirement of Ami and emergence of Madhumita.
The trio will be joined by the undisputed leading lady of India badminton PV Sindhu, the silver medallist from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the reigning women’s singles world champion. The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shree and Padma Bhushan awards recipient is gunning for an elusive Olympic badminton title for India from the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.
Fans can join the epochal webinar at https://www.facebook.com/Letthebirdfly2020/
It will be nostalgia, a story about the progress of the sport in India during half a century, exchange of notes from different eras and above all some brain storming for the future of the sport.