Former All England champion P. Gopichand expects a better performance from the Indian players in men’s singles and doubles events at the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
The Commonwealth Games-bound Indian side includes top men’s singles players such as World championships bronze medallist and World No. 10 Lakshya Sen and Worlds silver medallist and 11-ranked K. Srikanth and World no. 7 doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
India had claimed silver medals in men’s singles and doubles in the Gold Coast Games four years ago.
Gopichand said even though Indian shuttlers did well in the 2018 Commonwealth Games by securing two gold medals, three silver and a bronze, the men could perform better this time.
“Last time, it was a very good performance. We got two gold medals (in women’s singles and mixed team). But in men’s doubles and men’s singles we have a chance to do better than last time’s performance,” said Gopichand.
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“We had a good performance at the Thomas Cup and I am hopeful that we will have a good performance at the Commonwealth Games… The Thomas Cup performance means a lot. We have not performed (like this before) in a team event in the men’s section. It is a huge thing and I am happy about it.”
Gopichand, a Badminton Association of India (BAI) vice-president, was speaking to the media after inaugurating the Star Badminton Academy with West Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas at Harinavi on Saturday.
Asked about multiple World and Olympics medallist seventh-ranked P.V. Sindhu’s recent loss to Chinese Taipei’s World No.2 Tai Tzu-ying in the Malaysia Open quarterfinals, Gopichand said, “Tai Tzu is a very good player. Saina (Nehwal) and Sindhu had tough matches with her. Even in the last match Sindhu lost in three games. I am sure she will come back (to beat Tai).”
Tai Tzu and Sindhu have a 15-5 head-to-head record.
“Sindhu’s performance has been good in big tournaments. I hope she will do better,” said Gopichand.
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