Managing entries a big task: Gopi

“As a coach and former player, I am satisfied. Look at the quality of players in the country. But it also offers a different challenge to the organisers of the tournament,” the former All England champion said while inaugurating the main draw of the All India Junior Ranking Tournament at Fireball Academy here on Thursday. 

“Look at the number of entries here (1700). It is being held in three centres and still they find it difficult to complete the matches,” he observed. 

Gopichand said the talent that is coming up in India is amazing but called for a surge in infrastructure so that there is all-round development. “The infrastructure is on the rise across India and it is essential that the academies grow far and wide,” he said while commenting on his own centres in Salem (Tamil Nadu), Greater Noida, Vadodara and Gwalior. 

“I opened the centre in Salem because of Prabhakar, who had played with me. He is from there and he offered the facilities,” explained Gopi. “I would not say Noida is a big centre but overall the numbers coming to these centres are huge. Even for tournaments, there was a time when there were only a handful of entries. Then it was difficult to find the numbers but now the challenge is different. It is about how to manage the numbers,” he said and added this was because of Indian players doing well in international tournaments. 

Gopichand noted it is not essential to have a badminton culture to churn out talents. In the past, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Assam used to be the nurseries. “But the game has spread to many parts thanks to the facilities. I would not say talents come because of culture, good facilities and infrastructure automatically spur them,” the champion coach, who produced India’s cream of badminton players, said.

He said India has a good bunch of men players, who are in the top 20. “(Parupalli) Kashyap is 30 years old but he has a few years left in international competition, Srikant (Kidambi) is capable of giving a few more good results and HS Prannoy is also delivering,” he commented about his wards at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad. 

Gopi explained the reason for a slight dip in the form of PV Sindhu from No 2 to No 5. “She did not play in the US or Canada. It is temporary,” he said. “Overall, the growth of badminton in India is unprecedented. Look at countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Denmark which have struggled to find champions in recent years,” he signed off.