Yoga is part of badminton training: Gopichand

The former All England badminton champion and the coach of Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu, who flew in from Hyderabad in the evening, said he had applied some of the techniques from the Art of Living, such as breathing and Surya Namaskar, into the badminton syllabus and he believed they were effective. “You can’t say it is part of the physical conditioning, but it helps in many other ways,” said Gopichand. 

The Indian coach said Sindhu would face a difficult task in Denmark in a major test next week when she could possibly run into her Olympic rival Carolina Marin of Spain. “It will be tough for her to come back from all the adulation and break after the Olympics, but she has to get used to these distractions,” said the coach.

Gopichand said the national badminton association is now thinking in terms of expanding the coaching net all over India after the growth of the sport post Olympics. Right now, they are only in the south, in Hyderabad and Bangalore. “They are in talks with me. I think, the full-fledged academies now need to come up in all parts of India,” said Gopi. The national coach said the infrastructure in the country would change remarkably after Inida’s Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro. 

He said it is not correct to say Indian badminton is all about women (Sindhu and Saina Nehwal). “Our men have done really well in the last two Olympics. Srikanth has reached the quarter-finals in both which is impressive. He has a lot of promise and then there are six or seven youngsters, who are shaping well,” said Gopichand.