The debate on scheduling kicked off after the legendary Prakash Padukone recently observed that the Indian players were "definitely playing more tournaments than required".
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
Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, on Sunday, said his ward B Sai Praneeth needs to be consistent and hoped the win at Singapore Open will take his game to another level.
Gopichand, who is often credited with creating a pipeline of top badminton players by identifying them at a young age, described the move by the games' organisers' as appalling.
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.
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).
The sessions on opening day was attended by athletes and para athletes from all sport, including Olympic probables shooters Divyash Panwar, Apurvi Chandela, Abhishek Verma, Anish Bhanwala, boxers Lovlina Borgohain and Nikhat Zarin along with swimmer Srihari Nataraj. The first session of the 24-series workshop started on Friday with physiotherapist Dr. Nikhil Latey speaking about how to train at home during the time of Corona, getting over 8K views.
India's Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu, who captured the imagination of the entire nation by winning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, has ignored Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali's offer for a 'better coach', saying that her current guru Pullela Gopichand is the 'best coach' for her.
'It was tough financially for the first few years but my friends and family supported me and once he did well at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, there was no looking back.'
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.
A 'chance meeting' with Pullela Gopichand near an auditorium lift was enough for Manasi Joshi to convince the national coach of her burning desire to become a world champion.
The Badminton World Federation's proposal to reduce on-court coaching and tweak the scoring system has left international coaches a confused lot with the likes of Pullela Gopichand and Kenneth Jonassen questioning the very logic of such a move.
The second edition of the Virat Kohli-backed Indian Sports Honours were held on Friday in Mumbai where the top performers in 17 sporting disciplines were felicitated.
Srikanth, Prannoy enter pre-quarters; Aakarshi knocked out
Indian badminton national coach Pullela Gopichand feels PV Sindhu can do much better in terms of her defensive ability as she faces world number three Nozomi Okuhara in the Olympic semi-finals on Thursday.
India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal tied the knot with fellow badminton player and long time partner Parupalli Kashyap in Hyderabad on Friday.
India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Friday admitted that it was tough for him to manage two of his illustrious wards Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu together, saying he could never pick a favourite between the two. Gopichand said he always saw the duo as his kids and felt bitter when Saina left his academy to join Prakash Padukone's academy.
They would only be allowed in the academy after they produce COVID-19 negative certificate, the SAI said in a release.
National camp to resume on Monday.
I don't want to respond to what her father has to say, if Sindhu says something, I will respond, Gopichand retorts to PV Sindhu's father's allegations of unsatisfactory training.
The Bollywood star takes tips from the athlete she will play in Amole Gupte's biopic.
Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar 'never had anything positive to say about him'.
'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'
Gopichand, who shaped Sindhu and Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal among others, believes it will take some time for the next big star to emerge.
Pullela Gopichand says a good mix of foreign and Indian coaches is important for the development of the system but strongly believes that 'second best' overseas recruits will only produce the second best players.
National coach Pullela Gopichand on Wednesday defended Indian Badminton League's decision to reduce the base price of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa before the IBL Players' auction, saying it was done so that the doubles specialists do not incur financial loss.
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.
Age-fudging has been a big problem in Indian sports
He is known to be a demanding coach but Pullela Gopichand is of the opinion that Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu's odd defeats can't be termed as her failure, not even by a single per cent.
The 125-ranked Indian badminton ace, whose career has been dogged by injury, wants to reach the top 30-35 this year.
If you don't produce quality coaches, you cannot produce next level of players, says Indian national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand.
'Well, I think every year, in the last few years, has been better than the previous one'
Telangana Badminton Association vice president V Chamundeswarinath on Tuesday gifted a high-end car to Indian women's cricket team Captain Mithali Raj for becoming the highest run-getter in the women's ODIs.
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.
Eyeing a third Olympic medal, ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu will now move her base from Hyderabad to Bengaluru to train under the legendary Prakash Padukone in the build-up to the Paris Games.
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand expressed satisfaction after P V Sindhu's superb show on Friday ensured India a bronze medal at the World Championship.
India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal has split with National coach Pullela Gopichand and sought the help of former chief coach Vimal Kumar to prepare for the prestigious Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
With a hat-trick of international titles and a career-best world ranking of number three, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has already achieved the targets that she had set for 2010, a jubilant national coach Pullela Gopichand said on Sunday.
Pullela Gopichand, who has coached Olympic medallist shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, on Monday said that India can win a bagful of Olympic medals only if sports culture is built in the country through nurturing talent at the grassroot level. Wrestler Sakshi Malik and Sindhu saved India the blushes at the Rio Olympic Games by winning a bronze and a silver respectively.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu arrived, in Hyderabad, to a grand welcome at Hyderabad International Airport.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances