Bengaluru, Oct 14 (FN Agency) India can hopefully get another Pullela Gopichand in next two years. This comment was made by none other than Gopichand himself, who is chief national coach of the Indian badminton team. “Last year we lost in the finals at the All England Championships, and hopefully 2023 and 2024 could be giving us that medal,” he told UNI on the sidelines of the 6th World Summit on Ethics and Leadership in Sports organised by The Art of Living along with World Forum for Ethics in Business here on Friday. Giving reasons for it, Gopichand said overall India had good results and this year’s Thomas Cup victory was a great achievement, which gave hope for one of the Indian shuttlers to scale the roof. “The All England Championships has eluded us. But having said that, things like Lakshya Sen had reached (All England Championships) finals. We have had a silver and bronze medalists this year at World Championships. Last year we had a couple of them play well like B Sai Praneeth. This year Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have done well at the World Championships,” he said.
“So I think overall we had good results and this year’s Thomas Cup victory was a great victory. I am very happy with the way Indian badminton is performing and I am sure or later we will win the coveted big All England Championships as well,” Gopichand said. Lakshya had reached the finals of the All England Open men’s singles championships after Gopichand had won the coveted medal in 2001. He lost to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen 21-10, 21-15. The rising Indian male shuttler had stunned defending champion Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 in three games in the semifinal of the All England Championships. He had created history by becoming only the fifth Indian to reach the final of the prestigious tournament. The last time an Indian reached the AEC final was in 2005 where Saina Nehwal reached the summit clash. Apart from Gopichand, Prakash Padukone is only the second Indian to win the reputed title in 1980. Gopichand is also famous for spotting talents.
He had spotted Saina and PV Sindhu, who have achieved far too many milestones in their badminton careers. Asked about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s meeting with him in Hyderabad, Gopichand said it was nothing to do with politics, but about the sport and its relevance in nation building. “It was a good conversion because as home minister, I think, the keen interest in sport and the relevance of sport in nation building is something which we spoke about. There was no talk on politics,” he said. Continuing further, Gopichand said, “And the New Education Policy, I think, is something which I am really happy about. The government is implementing various policies like Khelo India, Fit India, Yoga Day and TOP scheme. I think the government is really ensuring that sports take a different seat in development.”