Saina Nehwal reunites with Gopichand again

Saina Nehwal to move back to Hyderabad to train with Gopichand after a gap of three years.

Saina Nehwal, who won the World Championship bronze, took a selfie with Gopichand, sparking rumours of a renewal of partnership. Saina confirmed the same on Monday.

Exactly three years after she moved over to Bengaluru to be trained under Vimal Kumar, 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist, Saina Nehwal, is back at the Gopi Chand Academy.

Saina, who clearly hinted in a chat with Sportstar about moving back to her hometown on her return from Glasgow, where she had to settle for a bronze, has already started training at the Gopi Academy .

Though Gopi refused to engage himself in any debate about Saina’s return, he did confirm that she has come for good and this move is not a makeshift one.

“I would rather let Saina speak on this subject to avoid any misunderstanding,” Gopi informed Sportstar .

Meanwhile, Saina also refused to talk on the issue but took to Twitter to announce the news.

For a while I've been thinking about moving my training base back to the Gopichand academy and I had a discussion about this with Gopi sir

— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) September 4, 2017

and I am really thankful to him for agreeing to help me again . At this stage in my career I think he can help me achieve my goals .

— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) September 4, 2017

 

“For a while, I have been thinking about moving my training base back to the Gopi Chand Academy and I had a discussion about this with Gopi Sir,” Saina tweeted.

“And, I am really thankful to him for agreeing to help me again. At this stage in my career I think he can help me achieve my goals,” the champion shuttler said.

Saina also gracefully thanked Vimal for all his support. “I am also very thankful to Vimal Sir for helping me for the last three years. He helped me reach World No. 1 in the rankings and also win two World championship medals (silver in 2015 and bronze in the recent edition) along with many Super Series title,” she said.

Vimal okay with Saina returning to Gopichand academy

“I am very happy to be back home and in Hyderabad. Keep supporting my friends,” Saina concluded.

It also means that two of India’s best women shuttlers - Rio Olympics silver meallist and also silver medallist in the recent Worlds, P.V. Sindhu, and Saina - will train under the same roof with the former clearly stepping into a different zone of her own under the guidance of Gopi in the last three years.

Importantly, Gopi, by his own confession, is not into full-fledged coaching sessions as Indonesian singles coach Mulyo Handoyo and the doubles coach Tan Kim Her are taking care of the training programme in consultation with him.

In a way Gopi has now more time to spend with other trainees than with only the big guns at the Academy.