The Origin of Organised Badminton in Assam

By Udayaditya Bharali

From National champion to Olympian — Assam Badminton Association has gifted many stars to the state as well as the country during its little more than six decades of journey.

India can claim a great place of honour in the history of Badminton. Because India was the country where Badminton originated. The game originated at Poona (presently Pune) in Maharashtra in the year 1870. The European army personnel stationed there invented the game as a pastime. It was due to this that at the time of its origin the game was known as "Poona." Its modern standardisation came later in Europe.

Compared to the date of its origin, the introduction of organised Badminton in Assam was made at a much later date. Cotton College, the premier college of Assam established in 1901, played the most significant role in the introduction and popularisation of Badminton in Assam.

However, whatever competitive Badminton was played in the college, organisationally it was limited to the parameters of the college's sports life only. No All Assam competition was organised by the college. It was only during the early part of the forties of the twentieth century that the beginning was made in this regard. Telegraph Institute Club of Gauhati, the then departmental recreation centre of the Post and Telegraph Department, took the pioneering initiative. Initially the competitions were held only in Men's singles and doubles sections. At that time Badminton was not played by girls in Assam. However, later on Mixed doubles was also added. The tournament was known as the "Himmatsingka Cup Championship" and was played annually at the P&T Club of Gauhati's premises, located at Panbazar, near Guwahati Don Bosco School.

Thus the "Himmatsingka Cup Championship" was the first organised All Assam Badminton Competition in the state. Jogen Bhattacharya and Priya Bezbaruah were the champions of the inaugural year. In 1948, Shankar Dhelia and R. S. Ghose of Dibrugarh were the champions.

Formation of Assam Badminton Association

The year 1952 was very memorable in the history of Badminton in Assam. In that year, at the initiative of noted players of the state, the Assam Badminton Association (ABA) was formed with S. S. Guha as the President and P. Chatterjee and Binoy Baul as the Joint Secretaries.

From the next year the ABA started organising the All Assam Championship annually. In 1953, the inaugural year of the tournament, Dimbeswar Phukan was the Men's singles champion and Nripen Barua was the runner-up. In the Men's doubles section Dimbeswar Phukan and Kironmoy Lahiri were the champions. The All Assam Inter District Badminton tournament was introduced by ABA in 1954.

The session 1954–55 saw the beginning of Assam's participation in the All India Inter States Badminton Tournament. That year the National Competition was held at Pune. The Assam team was captained by Shankar Dhelai. The other main players of the team were Dimbeswar Phukan and B. Bhattacharya. To popularise Badminton among women, the All India Badminton Association made it compulsory that each state team must have at least one lady player. In 1954–55 the Assam team's ladies' slot was occupied by Bimala Mahanta of Digboi — the first lady state Badminton player of Assam. During those formative years some of the noted lady players were Bhanu Padmavati, Anila Barua, Mamata Chatterjee, Aparna and others.

First National Championship in Assam

1958 was a very important year not only for Badminton in Assam, but for the whole sports life of the state as well. During that session the All India Badminton Championship was held at Guwahati — the first National championship ever hosted in Assam. The lasting memory of that championship was the Indoor Hall of Guwahati, presently known as the Kanaklata Indoor Hall. This hall was constructed within 45 days to host the National Championship. Radha Govinda Barua, the doyen of sports life in Assam, took the leadership in organising the tournament and the construction of the Indoor Hall within such a short time. He was the President of the Assam Badminton Association and S. Bhattacharya was the Secretary.

It is interesting to note that the captain of the Assam team in the 1958 National Badminton Championship was a lady — Begum Abeeda, the wife of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who later became the President of India. She was a notable badminton player. Another interesting aspect was that C. C. Deoras, a noted Badminton player from Bombay, participated in the Open Section as a player from Assam and achieved distinction in the Mixed-doubles section.

Notable Players & Popularisers

In popularising Badminton in Assam two names deserve special mention — Manoj Guha and Gajanan Hemmady. In 1954 they were All India champions in Men's doubles and their world ranking was fourth. At the request of ABA they came to Assam and played a series of exhibition matches at Guwahati and Tezpur — the first instances in Assam where gate-sale was introduced in Badminton matches. Amrit Dewan of Delhi and P. S. Chawla of UP also played notable roles in popularising badminton in Assam. Manoj Guha, who later became an internationally reputed Badminton coach, continued his contribution to Assam's Badminton development. In 1977 the Assam Junior team performed brilliantly in the National Badminton competition under his coaching. Foreign coaches including Sung Kang Liang of Malaysia also contributed to the development of Badminton in Assam.

During the formative years some of the noted Badminton players of Assam were: Dimbeswar Phukan, Priya Bezbarua, Nripen Barua, Jogen Bhattacharya, Shankar Dhelia, R.S. Ghose, Kironmoy Lahiri, Rohini Bhattacharya, S. Ghose, Acharya, S. Bhattacharya, Durga Bhatta, Badal Sengupta, Dipen Ganguli, Munindra Ganguli, B. Bhattacharya, Dulal Dutta, Subimal Chatterjee, Arun Dey, Ganesh Sen, Ambika Bhatta, Kamu Dey, Rubi Guha, Kamal Dey, Sunirmal (Manash) Roychoudhury, Pulin Kakaty, Pranab Barua, Boloram Thakuri, R.K. Nabachandra (Manipur), Hem Chandra, Shyamacharan, Dhruva Chaliha, Pradip Barua, T. Bhattacharya, Olee Bora, Poli Choudhury and others.

The player who put Assam in the Badminton arena of India with national distinction was Fairson Alleya of Shillong (then the capital of Assam). In 1960 she became All India Junior Champion in the ladies' singles section. Of the other reputed players of Assam during the sixties and seventies, some important names were Pradip (Bhaiti) Chaliha, Dip Barua, Bipul Sarma, Madhur Bezbarua, Arup Das, Dhruva Barua, Jiten Changkakaty, Hemanta Singh, Ranjan Das, Ashoke Sengupta, Amitav Bhowmick, Rajib Das, Mridul Chakravarty, Rajib Acharya, Ranjan Acharya, Chandan Sarma, Pranab Das, Sarat Das, Chitralekha Barua, Anuradha Barua, Mina Gogoi, Nirmali Das, Josbir Kaur, Deepanju Goswami, Bijoylakshmi Bora, Borasha Hazarika and others.

National Achievements

Though Assam Badminton had a humble beginning, with the passing of time it became a notable power in Indian Badminton. In Dipankar Bhattacharya, Assam has already produced a Badminton Olympian. E. M. Alleya, Madhur Bezbarua, Bipul Sarma, Deepanju Goswami, Bijoylakshmi Bora, Sushanta Bora, Mallika Barua, Madhurya Barua, Mrinmoy Sarma, Lopa Das, Snigdha Sarma and others were national champions either in Senior, Junior or Sub-junior sections by the beginning of the eighties of the last century.

Organisers such as Naresh Rajkhowa, Nalini Bhattacharya, S. Bhattacharya and others played important roles in organising and popularising Badminton in Assam. Most of the senior players also involved themselves as organisers during those days. Ex-players like Dhruva Chaliha, Pradip Hazarika, Pradip Chaliha and others are earning names as national judges at present.