Gopi, Vimal on different paths to same goal

Gopichand stuck to his stance when asked about the controversy that created a fair amount of ripples in the country’s badminton arena last year. “What we need is the country’s best players practising together for some part of the year. Other Asian countries like China and Malaysia call their players for camps for much longer—we were just asking for six weeks. And what is the point in playing tournaments outside and getting knocked out in the first round every time? It would be much more beneficial to train here,” stated Gopichand.

An opposite view is put forward by the man who once occupied the seat where Gopichand reigns—former national coach Vimal Kumar, who is now with the Prakash Padukone Academy. “I will always stand by the players. They should have the freedom. Chetan Anand, Jwala Gutta, Shruti Kurien… they have lost valuable time and points by the unfortunate incidents of last year,” he said.

Those events, however, are in the past, and it is now the Olympics which are looming large. Gopichand is optimistic. “The Olympics will have a field of lesser quality than what one would find in a Super Series event. Due to the new rules, there will just be two players from China, Indonesia. It depends on the draw. If Anup and Saina can produce the game, they will do well. Pressure is always there at the Games and anything can happen,” he said.

Saturday’s results

Women’s singles: Saina Nehwal bt Aditi Mutatkar 18-21, 21-13, 21-12; Sayali Gokhale bt Dhanya Nair 18-11, 21-6, 21-18.

Men’s singles: Anup Sridhar bt Aravind Bhat 21-19, 21-16; JBS Vidyadhar bt P Kashyap 22-20, 16-21, 21-15