 "India Open 2024: Satwik-Chirag favourites, Prannoy real hero for Gopichand")
Indian badminton coach Pullela Gopichand rated the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as the favorites going into the India Open 2024. He also called men’s singles player HS Prannoy a real hero in his heart.
“Satwik and Chirag have been phenomenal, and I do believe that they have what it takes to win every tournament in the world,” Gopichand said on the sidelines of the India Open 2024 at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium Complex in New Delhi. “They are going in as favorites, and I hope they can convert the big ones,” he added.
Prannoy A Real Hero
Prannoy had a terrific 2023 as he recharged himself to win the World Championship and Asian Games singles and team medals in just one month. He achieved his career-best ranking of world number six as well. Gopichand was also impressed by the late surge of the Kerala-born shuttler who is shining after turning 30.
“He’s always been level-headed and has gone through health issues over the years. He understands his body well now,” Gopichand said about Prannoy’s resurgence.
“He has contributed a lot to the team, be it at the Badminton Asia Championships, Thomas Cup, or the Asian Games. I am happy for him. With God’s grace and the right health, he can beat anyone on his day. He is a real hero in my heart,” added the 50-year-old.
Earlier, Prannoy advanced to the second round of the India Open 2024 by beating Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chan in straight sets 21-6, 21-19.
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Gopichand Impressed by Rajawat
Gopichand, who has seen the growth of young and upcoming Indian shuttlers, was impressed by Priyanshu Rajawat, who beat higher-ranked Lakshya Sen in the first round of the men’s singles competition at the India Open 2024.
“He has the speed, and today you might have seen that he also has the quality of strokes which are impressive,” said Gopichand. But he went on to caution that having only the speed and agility is not enough to sustain a player in the long run.
“There is a lot more to it than just having the weapons. With a game like that, it is not easy to be consistent. But if he gets consistent, he could be there for a long time. He has had some big wins. The quicker he gets consistent, the better for him,” added the national coach about the world number 30 Rajawat.
Gopichand on Race to Paris
Gopichand, an Olympian and All-England winner, said that the Race to Paris is the only thing that people want to talk about right now.
“I think there are still about eight good tournaments to play [to decide who qualifies for the Olympics]. I think it's not right to focus on that right now. I think it's important to stick to the process. The points, the rankings, and the qualifications will take care of themselves,” he said.
Gopichand emphasized that the right approach every single day would take the shuttlers to Paris eventually. “Everyone is talking about Paris. I think if you have the right approach every day, Paris will come naturally,” he said.
Gopichand on Kidambi Srikanth and Involvement of Personal Coaches
Kidambi Srikanth and Sen have been two players who haven’t had great results in the last two years. Srikanth, who was world number one in 2018, has slipped to the 25th position in the latest rankings released on Tuesday, January 25.
Talking about the 30-year-old, who will turn 31 this February, Gopichand said that he is hoping that Srikanth gets some good wins in this all-important year. “People like (Parupalli) Kashyap and Guru (Sai Dutt) are helping him, and I am very happy about that,” he said.
Gopichand said that he was happy that his workload was being shared by young coaches. “At one point, I had six or seven of them in the top 30. I was unable to give each player the time that they needed. So to have coaches working exclusively with players is nice,” he said.