LAHORE, June 23 Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) has set up its academy for Under-14, 16 and 19 players with initial funds of Rs50,00,000.

While announcing details of the academy at a press conference on Tuesday, PBF Secretary Aamir Hayat Khan Rokhari said that the first phase of the academy of around two weeks duration for Under-19 players would be held from June 25 to July 10. He said that the first phase would be attended by eight players, including Irfan Bhatti, Awais Zahid, Taimur Arab and Azeem Sarwar, who after receiving training would also be proceeding to Malaysia in order to participate in the Asian Junior Championship to be held there from July 12 to 19. The other four are Adnan, Hanan Raza, Zeeshan Khan and Arslan Khan.

Aamir said that in the absence of a regular monthly stipend, the federation would provide food and accommodation besides shuttlecocks and rackets to the students. The funds were limited as the federation had only a fixed amount of Rs50,00,000 for the project and the academy would run from its monthly profit.

He said that the Pakistan Sports Board was not extending proper help to the federation as it was helping only those, whose presidents were politically strong. He said PSB had reduced its annual grant from Rs10,00,000 to Rs600,000, from which it had only released Rs3,38,780.

Aamir said that the PBF would also send a four-member men's team for Hatfe Tri International tournament to be held at Zanjan, Iran, from August 16 to 18.

He said that while the federation had successfully made arrangements to hire a Malaysian coach for a monthly salary of US$3,000, a private Malaysian academy too had also agreed to provide training to our men and women's teams for two months prior to their participation in the forthcoming SAF Games in Bangladesh.Academy schedule

1st session from June 25 to July 10 (U-19).

2nd session from Aug 1 to 29 (U-16).

3rd session from Sept 7 to 28 (U-19).

4th session from Oct 5 to 25 (U-16).

5th session from Nov 2 to 22 (U-19).

6th session from Dec 7 to 28 (U-14).