Indian badminton coach Pullela Gopichand weighs in on Saina, Sindhu and Olympic prospect

NEW DELHI: In the latest episode of Inspiration, India badminton coach Pullela Gopichand spoke about the much-touted rivalry between Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu.

Gopichand spoke about the rivalry between the top two badminton players. He also said that Nehwal with good fitness and health can earn a medal for the country.

“Of course, the women's singles would definitely be a prospect with Sindhu being there. Also, our men's singles with Sai Praneeth doing well at the World Championships. It's a field that is pretty much the same... if any, the field at Olympics is actually simpler than the World Championship. There is a possibility that our singles players will win a medal there. Our doubles players have been doing well,” Gopichand said during India Today Inspiration.

He also said that there is constant scrutiny in terms of who he is seen favouring—Nehwal or Sindhu.

Gopichand had earlier expressed that his team is hoping for better performances with some good preparations before the Olympics.

“We have had some good performances in the last couple of Olympics. This time we will go into the Olympics with a world champion in our team and hopefully, with some good preparations, we can come back with better performances than what we have had in the previous games,” said Gopichand.

India got one medal in badminton from each of the last two Olympics, but current national coach Pullela Gopichand is confident that the Tokyo Games next year will witness a better haul.

Saina Nehwal had bagged a bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London while PV Sindhu earned a silver in the women’s singles final at the 2016 Games.

Gopichand asserted that he expects at least one of his wards to win gold in Tokyo while expecting better results from the men’s squad.

“The Tokyo Games will be a big event and every Olympics we have done better than the previous one. I hope this time we have a better medal than previous years and more medals than we have managed previously,” Gopichand told IANS.

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