India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand today called P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal -- his two most successful pupils -- as "precious diamonds".
Last month, Saina claimed her second individual Commonwealth Games gold medal by defeating world number 3 Sindhu 21-18 23-21 in a riveting women's singles final at Gold Coast, Australia.
"As a coach I treat both Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu as precious diamonds. Winning or loosing happens every day at the Academy in Hyderabad. Win or defeat in game encourages the winner and looser to raise the bar and reach higher," said Gopichand.
With the win at Gold Coast, Saina, ranked 12th in the world, took her overall head-to-head record against Sindhu to 4-1.
The last time these two shuttlers met in the final of an event was at last year's National Badminton Championships where Saina won 21-17 27-25 to clinch her third title.
Gopichand was speaking during a felicitation programme organised by
"One has to be strict with them to win. My dream is my students winning gold in olympics."