"Sometimes, these small things affect a long match where you need extra energy," Gopichand said on Tuesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
It was day of mixed results for India at the US$750,000 Denmark Open Super Series in in Odense on Friday, as Kidambi Srikanth fought back brilliantly to shock World No 1 Victor Axelsen and enter the semis after Saina Nehwal crashed out of the event following her quarter-final loss to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lavished praise on Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal for climbing to No 1 in world rankings.
Check out India's schedule on Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, on Tuesday.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round, but it was a disappointing day for India's men as two of them made an early exit from the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton, in Shah Alam, on Wednesday.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram continued his rampaging run at the Korea Open notching up a sensational straight-game upset victory over world No 7 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei to storm into the finals of the $ 600,000 Super Series event, in Seoul, on Saturday.
The Awadhe Warriors virtually assured itself a berth in the semi-finals but it turned out to be a disappointing day for the Hyderabad Hunters in the ongoing Premier Badminton League (PBL) here today. The Warriors registered an emphatic 4-1 win over Chennai Smashers in the evening match but the Hunters were out of contention for a semi-final berth following their 1-4 loss against Mumbai Rockets early in the day at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad. Awadhe gained two points with a win in the Mixed Doubles clash, which was the Trump match for both sides, and bagged two more points by defeating Chennai in Men's Doubles and one of the two Men's Singles' matches.
Saina Nehwal sailed past Indonesia's Hana Ramadhini 21-15, 21-12 for her maiden entry into the semi-finals at the India Open Super Series, while giant-killer H S Prannoy and RMV Gurusaidutt went down fighting in the quarter-finals at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, in Delhi, on Friday.
Tennis star Leander Paes and badminton player-turned-coach Pullela Gopichand were selected for the prestigious Padma Bhushan awards while cricketer Yuvraj Singh was among the seven sportspersons chosen for this year's Padma Shri award.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.
With the two teams locked 2-2 in the overall tie after the first the three matches, it was left to their respective mixed doubles pairs to push them ahead.
Participants at the Indian Wheelchair Tennis Tour held in Chennai did not let adversity affect their outlook on life. A Ganesh Nadar presents some of their stories.
Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the semi-finals of the $55,000 Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament after notching up contrasting victories in the men's singles competition in Calgary, Canada.
Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu and national champion K Srikanth continued their rampaging run with contrasting victories to reach the semi-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament in Lucknow.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the ninth day of the Asian Games, on Monday.
PV Sindhu fought back in the 2nd game to down compatriot Saina Nehwal 21-16, 22-20 and book a berth in the Yonex-Sunrise India Super Series badminton tournament at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their respective singles matches, while Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa triumphed in the mixed doubles to help India outclass Malaysia in the final and clinch the gold medal in the Mixed Team badminton gold medal match at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
After losing seven successive finals, PV Sindhu finally redeemed herself with the gold medal at the World Tour Finals.
Former World No 1 Saina Nehwal asserted her supremacy over Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu with a straight game victory to enter the semi-finals of the USD 350,000 Indonesia Masters, in Jakarta on Friday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth continued their impressive run at the Malaysia Open, progressing to the semi-finals of the women's and men's singles competition with a straight-game wins in the US$ 700,000 world tour super 750 tournament, in Kuala Lumpur.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal says the Glasgow World Championship made her realise that she needs to work harder on her stamina and beat tougher players to regain her place among badminton's top-10.
P V Sindhu said she has a strategy in place to outwit the World No. 1 in Tuesday's singles final at the Asian Games final in Jakarta.
A record-smashing Mirabai Chanu and a perseverant P Gururaja claimed gold and silver respectively as weightlifters lived up to to the pre-event hype and delivered opening day medals for India at the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, on Thursday.
Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will be the cynosure of all eyes when the seventh India Super Series badminton tournament gets underway with the qualifiers in New Delhi on Tuesday.
It was a day when India counted the silvers, a total of five, even though there was no gold in the tally.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Check out the gold medallists on Friday, Day 14 of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The sixth seeded Indian from Uttarakhand, who had won a bronze medal in the last edition of the competition, notched up 21-19, 21-18 upset win over Vitidsarn in the summit clash that clocked 46 minutes.
Parupalli Kashyap shocked World No 1 Chen Long to make it to the semi-final of the Indonesia Super Series Premier badminton tournament.
Rediff.com presents India's Olympic wonder-women...
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday.
A resurgent Saina Nehwal and fast rising PV Sindhu, country's best women shuttlers, set up a summit clash against each other at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament in Lucknow.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu set up a mouth-watering summit clash with Rio Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin after a hard-fought win over World No 4 Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the semi-finals of the India Super Series, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
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.
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen settled for a silver medal after he lost in the men's singles final against Li Shifeng of China in straight games at the Youth Olympics.
Young shooting sensation Manu Bhaker became the second Indian after judoka Tababi Devi to win two medals at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) after winning a silver while the men's hockey team moved to the semi-finals with a 4-2 win over Poland, in Buenos Aires, on Friday.
