Team India is on the cusp of glory. The women’s badminton team have entered their first-ever final at the Badminton Asia Team Championships, after beating mighty China & Japan, and now face Thailand in the final on Sunday. A few things have gone right for the team — Sindhu’s return, Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand’s form, and the advent of young Anmol Kharb.
Combined this all, India have defied the odds, and went on to achieve something special. And no wonder, the national coach Pullela Gopichand is chuffed. Speaking to the Indian Express, the veteran coach was ecstatic the way Ashmita Chaliha won against the former World No.1 Nozomi Okuhara.
“I haven’t seen her play this well since forever. You realize why everyone tells you there’s immense potential. It was the first time when I was sitting for her back-to-back matches, and I’ve figured out her psyche. You just need to sit there with a stick all the time in her case and keep telling her to not get carried away.
“And that you don’t need to be fantastic and brilliant all the time, even if you have the strokes. She just needs to be disciplined. And stick around, and she’ll be brilliant. She tends to be very patchy. But I was on her case all the time, and very happy to see her perform.”
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One Complaint from Sindhu & Ashwini
Since Tanisha Crasto is injured, India had to field PV Sindhu and Ashwini Ponnappa for the women’s doubles encounter. And of course, India lost that battle. But Gopichand had one complaint from the team. “After their doubles match, my only complaint was that they didn’t have fun on court.
“They were both trying a lot. But we weren’t exactly expecting them to pull out a miracle. Women’s doubles has become very specific and specialised, and it would be wrong to expect a scratch pair to beat a top Japanese combine. I only wish they had fun. It was more like, if there’s a chance, then go in. Both will do well in the big final I’m sure. Not too fussed about the loss.”
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