International exposureonly way for badminton players to improve: Murad

KARACHI: Pakistan top shuttler Murad Ali has said that national players need extensive international exposure which is the only way to promote badminton in the country.

“There is a huge talent in Pakistan but unless players are provided with ample international exposure it would be very difficult to promote badminton,” Murad told ‘The News’ in an interview.

Murad belongs to National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and has won national titles during the last four years besides having maintained the country’s top seed status for the last eight years.

“Look, being Pakistan’s top player I give tough time to India’s shuttlers who are among world’s good players. Then why are we still lagging behind in the rankings? Its basic reason is that we rarely get international events and an Indian player gets plenty of events in a year,” Murad said.

“If we are able to get 20 to 25 international events in a year then we can break into the world’s top 100 to 120 players’ list,” he said.

He stressed that playing and training in Pakistan alone will not help the sport, adding that the country needs a badminton league.

“League is very important. If top 25 shuttlers are engaged in the league then it will help a lot. The world promotes its sports through professional leagues and we also need such a league to keep shuttlers in tight practice,” Murad said.

He informed that Pakistani players were offered opportunities to play in Dubai leagues.

“We played a few times in Dubai leagues where we were paid well until 2016. We were also offered opportunities recently for a Dubai league but we could not join because we were undergoing preparation for the South Asian Games,” he said.

Murad said that Pakistan also needs a good coach.

“I will tell you, coaching counts. Sri Lanka surpassed us because they have an Indonesian coach since the last few years. I think they have hired him for ten years. If we get a coach for five years or so and also get more international events with that then we have the talent to take Pakistan to a very good position,” Murad said.

He added that badminton is a very costly game.

“It’s a very costly sport. My monthly expenses are around Rs 60,000. I spend my whole salary on my training. I cannot save. We have no sponsors and we are in much difficult position,” Murad said.

Despite having lifted several titles, Murad has failed to get promotion from his parent department NBP for the last five years. However, NBP sports chief Iqbal Qasim intends to give Murad promotion for being the top Pakistan shuttler.

“Iqbal bhai had asked me for documents and hopefully my promotion will be made,” Murad said. However, he was quick to add that various departments should keep Pakistan’s top players in good grades.

“India ten years ago was not good in badminton but they started investing in the sport and achieved distinction in the world, having also won Olympics medal,” he said.

Murad said that previously Lahore had been producing solid players, saying, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also started producing good young stuff.

“Before my entry into the badminton there was no ideal of the players in KP to follow. Now when I have established myself as Pakistan’s top player young blood is following me and you can find good young talent in KP in various age-groups who could turn out to be Pakistan’s future,” he said.

Despite lockdown, Murad has been managing to do training at the Army’s facilities in Peshawar. Currently Murad is ranked 561 in the world. His world’s best ranking was 383 in October 2016.