News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Home  » Sports » Gopichand sees bright future for India

Gopichand sees bright future for India

By Sanjay Rajan
March 05, 2007 21:27 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

Former all-England champion and national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said India's emerging talent was bridging the gap with the world's top players.

"All of them are ranked pretty high and have had good wins in their careers," the 2001 winner at Birmingham said.

"We have players like Saina Nehwal who has beaten higher ranked players consistently. All it takes is two good days and you are in the quarter-finals, really," Gopichand said ahead of the all-England Open, which begins on Wednesday.

Anup Sridhar, at 49 the third highest-ranked Indian in the world, reached the semi-finals of the German Open last week with victories over German world number 20 Bjoern Joppien, 23rd ranked Korean Park Sung-hwan and Denmark's world number 32 Kasper Oedum.

The 23-year-old lost to China's world number one Lin Dan 21-14, 21-12 in the last four.

Three Indians are in the top-50 of the men's rankings while 16-year-old Nehwal is 32nd among women, with Trupti Murgunde 18 places further down.

Gopichand expected his players to start making it to the quarter-finals more consistently in tournaments around the world.

"The bright side is that they have fought and lost to higher-ranked players in close matches," said Gopichand, who took over as national coach last May.

Gopichand is only the second Indian to have won the prestigious all-England, doing so 21 years after Prakash Padukone achieved the feat in 1980.

Nehwal made headlines last year when she captured the Philippines Open after beating German top seed and world number four Xu Huwaien in the last eight and then Malaysian Julia Wong in the final.

Nehwal and men's world number 27 Chetan Anand are in the main draw of the all-England while Sridhar, Nikhil Kanetkar and P. Kashyap will start in the qualifiers on Tuesday.

Gopichand has high hopes for Nehwal.

"She is very strong, especially mentally. Everybody gets chances to win, but taking it on the given day is what is important," he said. "Saina goes for it."

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Sanjay Rajan
Source: REUTERS
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Paris Olympics 2024

India's Tour Of Australia 2024-25