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Bahrain is being eyed by the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) to set up a development centre for the Gulf region as early as 2016.
The plan was revealed by BAC development officer M Jivananthan Nair, who was in the kingdom for the inaugural BAC-West Asia Universal Team Championships held at the Indian Club courts.
The Bahrain team finished third in the men's division after Iran and Syria and second in the women's section behind Iran.
Jivananthan said: "At present Asia is divided into four regions - Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia which includes the GCC.
"We now realise that the GCC countries have a distinct characteristic so their needs are different as well as their potential. So we are looking to develop the GCC separately.
"For us West Asia is the way to get an entry point into the GCC among which only Bahrain has an active federation. We are now looking to revive a federation in Kuwait and popularise the sport in Qatar, Oman, UAE and Saudi Arabia."
The BAC aims to develop the sport through a BASE (Badminton Awareness in Schools and Educational institutions) project, monitored by the Asia Development Team (ADT).
Presently, the only development centre in West Asia is in Syria but it has only been functional for four months in a year. From March 2011 onwards it will be turned into a full-time centre, said Jivananthan, where courses for coaches will be conducted, event management for sports administrators and training camps for promising junior and senior players.
The BAC wants to have a GCC-specific development centre and this is where he expects the kingdom to play a leading role.
The 30-year-old Malaysian, who played in national events for the state of Selangor, said: "I'm confident Bahrain has the capability of playing a lead role just because of the fact that they have been organising top ranking tournaments in the last few years."
Jivananthan had a high-profile meeting with Bahrain Badminton and Squash Federation (BBSF) general secretary Hisham Al Khan about three months ago, the outcome of which was the Indian Club team championships clash.
This is a forerunner to the championships to be held next year from which West Asian teams will get a chance to play in the Asia qualifiers for the Thomas and Uber Cup team championships.
The Malaysian, who was accompanied by New Zealand coach and BAC representative Thana Harikrishnan, visited many government schools as well as some expat schools and clubs to assess the infrastructure and needs of these institutions during his latest visit to the kingdom.
Jivananthan said: "In terms of infrastructure most of the government schools have a big auditorium. The next step is to get committed sports teachers to undergo a coach training programme so that they can spot and train young talent in these schools and build up a pool of players who can go on to represent the country.
"The BAC provides assistance to schools that are recommended by their national federations by supplying kit bags which contain 12 racquets, two nets and 60 shuttlecocks."
At present only the Indian School Bahrain has a qualified coach in C M Junith who was the tournament director of the BAC-West Asia Universal Team Championships.
The other BAC official, Harikrishnan, and Jivananthan were full of praise for the efforts of Junith in organising the event. Harikrishnan said: "With committed people like Junith, the BBSF officials, as well as the organisers of the Bahrain Badminton Challenge at the Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam and Indian Club badminton section, I see a bright future for the sport in the kingdom."
He added that they had a meeting at the Indian School where they discussed the possibility of conducting a top level junior open tournament for school children from the GCC and other regions in the near future.
