National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand feels Indian athletes no longer have to worry about the basic facilities that he had to struggle for in his playing days.

“All my life I have struggled to get basic sports facilities. I am glad today’s generation don’t have to struggle for this. Sports today has great future,” Gopichand said Wednesday at a workshop organised by the Andhra Pradesh government, reported PTI.

“We need to ensure that kids taking sports need to be incentivised so that they can lead good life. Kids need to learn discipline and sports is fundamental for this,” he added.

“It is not necessary to create champions, but to create environment where everyone – kids and adults – enjoy sports. Remember sports increases a nation’s happiness index and improves quality of life.

The event was organised to declare that the state’s future capital Amaravati will be developed as a “world-class sports city” capable of hosting the Olympics.

On a related note, Gopichand had spoken about how the country’s coaching system needs an overhaul in order to produce world-class players. Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh last Thursday during the selection tournament for the world junior championships, the 44-year-old said India doesn’t have many quality badminton coaches.

“There is a dire need to improve the coaching system,” the former All England champion was quoted as saying by The Tribune. “It can either be good if players shift to coaching, for which the BAI (Badminton Association of India) should come up with some plan, or by introducing more practical drills for the current lot at the ground level. If we have to produce good players, we have to have a good coaching structure.”

Gopichand added that building infrastructure is easy but finding “committed and motivated people” who can work for the greater good of the sport is the tough part. “The bizarre thing about sports in India is that we don’t have a proper road map,” he was quoted as saying by the Times of India. “Our coaches are mediocre. We don’t seem to know how to nurture the coaches.”

Gopichand also said that unless coaching becomes lucrative, people are not going to take up the profession. “At the moment, our challenge is that coaching is not looked at the way it should be looked at. The best minds don’t get into coaching,” he had said.