LAHORE: The IOC Olympic Solidarity Technical Badminton Course concluded here on Saturday with all the 16 participating coaches being awarded certificates.

Sambenthan Sivaperumal, a Sri Lankan badminton expert who was appointed by the IOC for the course, imparted training to the local coaches during the 15-day course. At the conclusion, president of Pakistan Olympic Association Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan distributed the certificates among the participants.

Sivaperumal, speaking on the occasion, said that he doubts about Pakistan being a safe country before coming here. “My wife used to contact me every day to ask whether was safe. But I told her Pakistan is a very beautiful country and the people are loving and caring,” he said in an emotional tone. “I told my wife that next time you will come with me to Pakistan and then you will realise how beautiful Pakistan really is.”

The Sri Lankan official also appreciated the skill of the Pakistan badminton coaches and observed that some of them would be recommended to attend the second level coaching course in Malaysia later this year.

Arif also advised the participants to pass on the knowledge to the players and coaches, who were not here so that they gain benefits of the course.

He said such kind of courses were necessary to hone the skill of the local coaches, while adding the IOC had allocated many coaches to Pakistan in the past and it would continue to do so in the future as well.

The POA chief also thanked Sivaperumal for coming to Pakistan and hoped that the Sri Lankan would visit again.

Naqi Mohsin, senior vice-president of the Pakistan Badminton Federation, also thanked the POA president and Sivaperumal for the successful course.

POA secretary general Khalid Mahmood and presidents of different national sports federations also attended the grand function organised at a local hotel.

Meanwhile, national champion Wajid Ali has announced to organise a national championship in Lahore in August after the PBF failed to get sponsorship for the event.

Wajid, the top-ranked national player for many years, said that he was hopeful of getting sponsorship from some of the Gulf countries.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2015

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