Saina Nehwal has once again resumed her partnership with long-time mentor and former coach Pullela Gopichand and would be starting her training at his academy in Hyderabad after recovering from a thigh strain.
India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand believes the sport's upcoming shift to a 15x3 scoring system will lead to some players being 'wiped off' due to the increased premium on speed, power, and mental strength.
Pullela Gopichand didn't just coach champions -- he changed how Indian badminton thinks about success.
Unified high-performance training camps in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Guwahati played a crucial role in India's bronze medal win at the Thomas Cup, with top shuttlers benefiting from the focused preparation.
'The supply of feathers has dropped and costs have escalated sharply.'
The Bollywood star takes tips from the athlete she will play in Amole Gupte's biopic.
Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha has advanced to her maiden BWF World Tour singles final at the Korea Masters Super 300, defeating compatriot Rakshitha Ramraj. Chaliha, returning from injury, will now face China's Han Qianxi for the title, marking a significant achievement for Indian badminton.
BAI has confirmed the services of Tan Kim, who will be joining the Indian team by the end of September to work with the top doubles players.
Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha defeated compatriot Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj to reach her first-ever BWF World Tour final at the Korea Masters Super 300. Chaliha, returning from a knee injury, continued her impressive run, having previously upset the top seed.
P V Sindhu on Monday said she received congratulatory message from chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand but she has not got any such gesture yet from senior shuttler Saina Nehwal following her bronze medal winning feat at the Tokyo Olympics.
National camp to resume on Monday.
London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal resumed training at a separate facility in Hyderabad after the COVID-19-induced break and is likely to join the national camp at the Sports Authority of India-Pullela Gopichand Academy in a couple of weeks.
Rio Olympics silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu and bronze winner grappler Sakshi Malik along with gymnast Dipa Karmakar and badminton coach Pullela Gopichand were presented BMW cars.
World Championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth on Monday announced his retirement from international badminton, bringing down curtains on a successful career during which he won the Singapore Open and also represented India at the Tokyo Olympics.
India's national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand wants Badminton World Federation (BWF) to come up with "radical" solutions to restart the sport smoothly in a post coronavirus world, suggesting that conducting more tournaments at a single venue could be the way forward. The coronavirus outbreak, which has so far infected over 41 lakh people and caused close to 3 lakh deaths worldwide, forced BWF to suspend all events, including the Olympic qualifiers, till end of July.
India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand believes the Tokyo Olympics should be postponed given the unprecedented crisis that the world is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 125-ranked Indian badminton ace, whose career has been dogged by injury, wants to reach the top 30-35 this year.
They would only be allowed in the academy after they produce COVID-19 negative certificate, the SAI said in a release.
Shuttler N Sikki Reddy and physiotherapist Kiran C have tested positive for COVID-19 at the ongoing national camp, forcing the closure of the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad for sanitisation.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are training at separate academies of national coach Pullela Gopichand ever since their epic Commonwealth Games summit clash
'I think for the next generation to come up, we need to put a system in place which actually identifies and nurtures talent. We have grown exponentially but there is lot more which needs to be done' 'It's not only my academy, all academies across the country are running full. There are many, many parents who want their kids to give up everything and concentrate on badminton'
A gold medallist at the 37th National Games, Mannepalli was trailing 4-7 in the first game before rallying to 12-9. He then took control and scored six straight points from 15-11 to seal the game.
He also called upon the government and other stakeholders to streamline the processes where an athlete could just concentrate on his training and performance without having to bother about other issues.
National coach Pullela Gopichand refused to comment on the controversy over Prajakta Sawant who had accused him of "mental harassment" in her petition to the Bombay High Court which has allowed the shuttler to attend the ongoing training camp at his badminton academy in Hyderabad.
P Kashyap insisted that he too has an outside chance of qualifying for the Tokyo Games but he has no way to pursue it as he can't train at the camp.
Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy will represent India in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and the young shuttlers said they would settle for nothing less than a gold in the inaugural edition of mega-event starting on August 13.
The players will get tested again for the second time on Monday.
Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar 'never had anything positive to say about him'.
'Well, I think every year, in the last few years, has been better than the previous one'
Anmol Kharb achieved a remarkable feat by securing her second consecutive title on Sunday, winning the Poland International with a straight-game victory over Switzerland's Milena Schnider
The Birmingham showpiece will be held from July 28 to August 8.
Badminton stars Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap continued their wedding celebrations with a post-wedding cocktail party in Hyderabad on Sunday.
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand remained tightlipped about his split with Saina Nehwal, saying he doesn't want to talk about the issue as the Asian Games is just round the corner.
With the coronavirus pandemic halting all sport activities, India's former chief badminton coach Vimal Kumar on Tuesday urged the government to allow the Olympic-bound athletes to continue their training after conducting the required tests. Following the respective directives of the Talengana and Karnataka governments, the Pullela Gopichand academy in Hyderbad and Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore have been shut down for two weeks.
Chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, who guided Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu to Olympic medals in the successive Games, says he was lucky that he wasn't good in studies and it was a flunked IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) exam that paved his way to be a successful sportsperson.
Former national champion and 2014 German Open winner, Arvind Bhat has retired from international badminton, citing his desire to concentrate on coaching stints with an academy in Hyderabad.
India's top players, including P V Sindhu, may not be going through the best of times, but national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand is still hopeful of a best-ever Olympics outing in Tokyo. Gopichand has produced two Olympic medallists -- Saina Nehwal (bronze in 2012) and Sindhu (silver in 2016).
Kidambi Srikkanth is a big fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and he was in for a pleasant surprise when he received a cricket bat
Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu will miss the Swiss Open as she recovers from travel disruptions in Dubai. H S Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will lead the Indian challenge.