P.V. Sindhu is too good a player to stay away from winning and will bounce back strongly before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, according to national badminton coach Pulella Gopichand said here on Thursday.
Sindhu has gone through a dismal run after the World Championship win in last August.
“She is too good a player. Having said that the results have been not so good. But we will turn it back. We need to make some changes and hopefully we will get her back on track,” Gopichand said.
Gopichand also lamented the lack of preparation time for the Tokyo Olympics due to a packed international calendar.
“We have had some not so good results in recent times; we need to buck up and get better. There has hardly been any time for preparation and hence we have to get people back on track. Players with good ranking think they have a good chance, with the Olympic qualification going on," he said.
READ | Lakshya Sen achieves career-best badminton ranking of 32
When asked if the women’s completion will be more open in Tokyo, Gopichand felt the conditions will play a big part.
“Form will be important. The women’s group will have Tai Tzu Ying, Ratchanok Intanon, Carolina Marin, Akane Yamaguchi,Nozomi Okuhara, Sindhu, Saina and Chen Yufei... I think it’s going to be exciting," he said.
Gopichand, who was at the launch of "Badminton Gurkul" explained that the primary objective is to provide access to the game to youngsters and top class coaching across the country. “ I agree with Anil Pradhan (Aparna Popat’s coach) that coaching is not necessarily to produce champions, but also playing the sake of fun and fitness.”
The programme will be run in 14 cities with 28 training centres with 20 former internationals involved in training around 1,000 players.
“We will have a coaching development programme and the former players will interact with each other and share their experiences,” said Gopichand.
Comments
SHARE