Pullela Gopichand, who has coached Olympic medallist shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, on Monday said that India can win a bagful of Olympic medals only if sports culture is built in the country through nurturing talent at the grassroot level.
Wrestler Sakshi Malik and Sindhu saved India the blushes at the Rio Olympic Games by winning a bronze and a silver respectively.
“We have come a long way since my playing days. There is a lot of government support these days but that is not going to give us medals. The help is there for top athletes but there is hardly anything happening at the grassroots,” Gopichand said.
“School sport is important. Unless we have a large pool of players playing different sports, it is tough to get more than an odd medal,” said Gopichand at a panel discussion. “We have a huge population so that makes it all the more challenging (creating sports culture). We have far too many kids dropping out of the system and leaving sport midway,” he said at the discussion organised by ‘The Print’.
Sindhu was seated alongside her coach said: “I said it to myself that I got enough bronze (two in World Championships) and there was no way I am going to lose a semifinal again. I just wanted to win the semifinal and be assured of a better colour.”
Gopichand further stressed that a smarter approach was needed to get more medals in the Olympics, something what Great Britain did by focusing on targetted sports to improve their medal haul. Britain finished second ahead of China in the Rio Olympics medals tally.
“We need a smarter approach besides improving our grasroots. Medals are a byproduct of number of people playing. The more the brighter the chances of a medal in any sport,” he said.