National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Sunday said shuttler P Kashyap, who crashed out of the Indonesia Open with a semifinal loss, should be given some more time to become consistent.
Gopichand also praised Kashyap on his victory against world number one Chen long in the quarterfinals. “When I started coaching there was a time they said that Indian men and women have done well. Then there came a point when Saina (Nehwal) was there and then we had (P V) Sindhu. And suddenly there was a question that only Indian women seemed to be coming up and why not Indian men,” Gopichand said.
“Today we see somebody like Srikanth, Kashyap and Prannoy there. All of them are doing well. Definitely, we have it in us and just another step forward we will even get those results. It was fantastic to see Kashyap win against Chen long. I think he needs some more time to be consistent,” he added.
Kashyap was on Sunday ousted from Indonesian Open Super Series with a semifinal loss to eighth seed Japanese Momota Kento. Earlier, he had defeated world number one Chen long of China in quarterfinals on June 5.
Asked if India would dominate the international badminton arena in the near future, he expressed confidence that the Indian shuttlers would scale higher heights.
“Burdens like this (dominance) will definitely help. I think larger the pool of players who are getting the right kind of training more and more players will be pumped into the top areas of world badminton. In that we will spur to higher heights, this is what my belief is,” he said.
Gujarat govt ropes in Gopichand
GANDHINAGAR: In a bid to give new dimension to ‘Khel Mahakubh’ — an initiative taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was Gujarat Chief to encourage budding sportspersons — Sports Authority of Gujarat (SAG) roped in Indian Badminton icon Pullela Gopichand to select, train and guide talented players at its proposed residential Badminton Academy. SAG, which comes under Sports, Youth & Cultural Activities department of Government of Gujarat is in process to set up a state-of-the-art infrastructure near Vadodara for the academy.
On Sunday, Gopichand made a beginning for the ambitious SAG project by selecting 20 participants from among 48 finalists at the conclusion of the Gujarat State Sub-junior Badminton Championship 2015.