Pullela Gopichand remains positive about India's show in the upcoming Olympics, insisting that the performances from the Indian shuttlers have been improving since 2008.
PV Sindhu has said that the changes brought by Korea's Kim Ju Hyun, along with Pullela Gopichand's guidance made a huge impact in her winning the gold medal at the World Championships.
Pullela Gopichand feels the country needs to wake up to the fact that there aren't enough coaches to handle the talent that is rising.
Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand wants his wards to improve their fitness and stay injury free to perform well in major tournaments.
Pullela Gopichand is of the opinion that the downturn comes due to the fact that the players had to go through a rather hectic 2019 with the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championships.
Age-fudging has been a big problem in Indian sports with some associations such as the BCCI and Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) handing out bans on players found guilty.
Former Indian hockey captain Sardar Singh, tennis veteran Mahesh Bhupathi, legendary athlete PT Usha and former shooter Anjali Bhagwat are also a part of the selection panel.
Gopichand had claimed the All England Championship in 2001, more than two decades after Prakash Padukone became the first Indian to achieve the feat in 1980.
Gopichand was the last Indian to win the All England Championship in 2001, achieving the coveted feat after 21 years of Prakash Padukone's 1980 title.
Srikanth is currently ranked ninth among men in the world, while Rio Olympics silver medalist Sindhu is ranked second among the women.
The players, the coaches, the support staff all of them put in efforts to be in good shape, said the Indian badminton chief coach as India take off for Jakarta.
India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand called P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal — his two most successful pupils — as “precious diamonds”.
While Saina is an Olympic bronze medallist, Sindhu did one better by winning a silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Saina, who won the women's singles gold, said winning the team championship was more satisfactory for her.
Indian shuttlers, especially the doubles pairs, had to play more than one match in a single day due to the scheduling and Gopichand disapproved it.
Sindhu and Srikanth are expected to have easy first round outings against relatively unheralded opponents but the road is tricky for former finalist Saina Nehwal, who will face none other than world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
When asked who has played the major role in the men's recent rise in badminton, HS Prannoy credited coach Pullela Gopichand without giving second thoughts on it.
Gopichand said his main target this year is to ensure that his wards deliver at big-ticket events such as the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.
Looking ahead to next year's CWG in Gold Coast, Australia, and the Asian Games, Gopichand hoped that the shuttlers' display would be better.
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