Should fund a group rather than individuals to create more champions: Gopichand

National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Tuesday said the current athlete-centric model of funding doesn't benefit sport and there is a need to look at supporting a group rather than individuals to produce more champions.

Gopichand made the assertion while addressing a special online session organised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for its newly-appointed Assistant Directors.

"All present models are athlete-centric, they don't benefit the sport as a whole. They benefit individual athletes. We should look at funding a group rather than individual athletes," he said.

"The structure should throw up champions. The level of competition should be so high, that they become world-class without them even knowing. The number 2 and number 3 should be constantly pushing the number 1."

Talking about the importance of coaches in the sporting ecosystem, Gopichand said: "You want people to be on-field, you want them to work as coaches ... (however) as time goes by, a lot of people want ..