Chief coach Gopichand hopes for best-ever show from badminton contingent
HYDERABAD: India's best show in badminton at the Asian Games came in the last edition in Jakarta, where PV Sindhu won silver and Saina Nehwal bagged bronze. Sindhu is the only Indian to win a silver while the rest had to be content with nine bronze, starting with the men's team at the Tehran Games in 1974. However, chief coach Pullela Gopichand expects his wards to return with their best haul from Hangzhou.
Badminton begins with team events on September 28.
"This is the best team we ever fielded at the Asian Games," Gopi told TOI on Thursday. "Having said that, Asian Games is like World championships. It is tougher than Olympics because there the entry is restricted but at the Asiad, all top countries can field two entries each," Gopi added.
The Indian team will leave for Hangzhou on Sunday and Gopichand is hopeful that the Indians can win at least a medal in every event. Despite her poor form, Gopichand has high hopes for PV Sindhu.
"We have a very good chance in women's singles. Sindhu is capable of producing big results and I expect her to come good at the Asian Games. She lost some very close matches in the last few weeks but that is not a concern. A favourable draw will help her go the distance," he said.
The former All England champion expects India to end the medal drought in men's singles. Syed Modi was the only man to win a medal (bronze) in 1982. HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will be representing India in men's singles after the latter defeated Lakshya Sen in the selection trials. Lakshya, however, will be part of the men's team event.
"We should win medals in men's singles, team events and women's singles. Prannoy and Srikanth are training hard but we know the field is strong. SatwikChirag will defnitely win a medal and we are Thomas Cup champions," Gopichand said.
The coach said that the men are playing better after the Thomas Cup triumph last year. "Prannoy improved a lot after that. Lakshya is playing well but the most improved players are Satwik-Chirag," he said. "We did not fare well at the China Open, but that event came immediately after the World championships and that result doesn't bother me much. We are working hard for the Games and I am quite confident that our team will give us the best possible result this time," Gopichand said.
