TIL Desk Sports/ Badminton national coach Pullela Gopichand is not concerned about P.V. Sindhu’s poor run of form since she won the 2019 BWF World Championships. But he admits that these are “tough” times for the sport in the Olympic year with Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth struggling to secure automatic qualification spots. Gopichand also stressed the need to work on opponents being able to read “certain strokes and game patterns” of Indian shuttlers ahead of Tokyo 2020.
“Sindhu has struggled a bit. But she is someone who has consistently done well in the highest tournaments and I do believe that going into the Olympic year, knowing well these are the areas to be worked on, I am sure we will be able to sort it out,” Gopichand told on the sidelines of the launch of the book ‘Dreams of a Billion: India and the Olympic Games’ at the TATA Steel Literary Meet.
With Sindhu placed sixth in the qualification rankings,
Saina who is ranked 22nd will need to be placed within the top 16 by the end of
the qualification period which comes in April to be assured of a place in the
Indian contingent that goes to Tokyo. The 26th ranked Srikanth finds himself in
even more choppy waters and will need to get into the top 16 to ensure that he
gets a spot in Tokyo alongwith Sai Praneeth who is ranked 11th.
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