Gopichand's chances are good

Badminton is a major event at the Asian Games, as, needless to say, the standard of Asia's badminton players is the best in the world. The atmosphere at the Games is always very good and it is a great feeling to live in the village with athletes from various parts of the continent.

I represented India at three Asian Games. The seventh Asiad in Bangkok in 1978 was my first Games. Till date, I treasure the memories of those Games. In 1982, at the eighth Asiad in Delhi, I was present at the Games again and won three bronze medals -- one in the team event; one in the men's doubles, partnering Pradeep Gandhe; and one in the mixed doubles, partnering Kanwal Thakur Singh.

I also won a bronze in the team event at the ninth edition of the Games at Seoul in 1986.

Before the Delhi Asiad, our team underwent three camps, two at Udaipur and the final one at Delhi. These preparatory camps were really beneficial to us because it was for the first time we were provided with imported shuttles for our daily practice. This was the main reason why every player in our squad was able to raise the standard of his game. We ended up winning five bronze medals.

Prakash Padukone had already won the All-England Championships, and it made me realise that beating foreign players was possible if I trained hard and remained focused. I went into every match with the belief that I could win. This was something I had never done before.

The 1986 Asian Games squad was one of the most balanced that India ever fielded. We once again retained the bronze medal we won in 1982.

But since 1986, India haven't entered the team event.

This year the government cleared only Pulella Gopichand and Aparna Popat for the Busan trip. But only Gopichand will play in the singles event as Popat is concentrating on the European circuit. Gopichand has a good chance of winning a medal as the 15 points x 3 games format will be to his advantage. He was not able to mentally adjust to the 7 x 5 format and that is one of the reasons why he wasn't able to perform well on the international circuit since his All England triumph almost two years ago. Gopi is hardworking and confident of himself and I am sure if he plays his normal game there is no reason why he will not win a medal at this Asiad. He has beaten all the leading Asian players before and can do it again. In fact, his confidence is high following a couple of good victories at the Singapore Open, where he beat Chinese favourite Lin Dan.

At the Asian Games only two entries per country are allowed in the individual event and, with the field spread out, Gopichand can easily make it to the medal round. All he needs to do is keep his cool. What he should do is play point by point without trying to force the game.

He is a touch artist and likes to charge to the net, because that is where he is unbeatable. But he should use this tactic judiciously as even a slight lapse in control could prove disastrous against fleet-footed opponents like the Chinese and Indonesians.

Leroy D'Sa spoke to Nagraj Gollapudi

Leroy D'Sa's major achievements

National champion in men's doubles: 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1983, 1984 and 1986

Runner-up: 1974, 1978, 1981, 1982 and 1985

National champion in mixed Doubles: 1980

Runner-up: 1978, 1982 and 1984

Represented India [major tournaments]:

Eighth Asian Games in Bangkok in 1978.
Asian Zone Thomas Cup finals against Malaysia in 1979, which India won
German Open, Danish Open and All-England in 1981
Thomas Cup tie against Sri Lanka, at Hyderabad in October 1981, which India won
Commonwealth Games in Brisbane (Australia) in 1982, reaching the quarter-finals in the men's doubles
Ninth Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982. Won three bronze medals in team event, men's doubles and mixed doubles
Only badminton player from India to win three bronze medals at the Asian Games in 1982 and the only player to have won a total of four bronze medals at the Asian Games from - 1982 & 1986).
Swedish Open and All-England Championships in 1983
Doubles title at the Austrian Open, in Pressbaum, Austria in 1983 ;
Silver medal in the team event at the fifth Asian Confederation championships, in Calcutta in 1983.
Member of the Indian Thomas Cup team for the World Cup Asian Zone championships in Delhi in January 1984, which finished runners-up.
Tenth Asian Games in Seoul, Korea in 1986. Won a bronze medal in the team event

Coaching assignments:

Coach of the Indian team for:
i) The Asian Satellite tournament in Chennai, in 1998
ii) The German Open and Danish Open in 1999
iii) The English Nationals at Milton Keynes in October 1999
iv) Thomas Cup Asian Zone qualifying rounds at Delhi 2000. India qualified for the final round at Kuala Lumpur.
v) World Junior championship held at Gaun Zhau (Canton), China in 2000.
vi) The All-England 2001, at Birmingham, where Gopichand won the men's singles title.
vii) French Open 2001, where Abhinn Shyam Gupta won the men's singles title.
At the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore in August 2001.