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Pullela Gopichand
Former Commonwealth Games badminton champion Parupalli Kashyap has expressed strong support for Pullela Gopichand's recent comments on the challenges faced by middle-class families, emphasising that his coach's remarks accurately reflect the harsh realities of India's sporting ecosystem. Kashyap pointed out that the lack of a safety net for athletes, who don't reach the top, is a significant issue and described Gopichand's call for caution as "pragmatic, not pessimistic. "Gopi sir's recent remarks about the challenges middle-class families face in pursuing sports as a career resonate deeply with the realities of India's sporting ecosystem," the 2014 CWG champion posted in X'. "He's absolutely right to highlight the lack of a safety net for athletes who don't reach the top. In a country where success in sports outside of cricket rarely guarantees financial security or societal respect, his call for caution is pragmatic, not pessimistic. "The middle class, often tethered to the ...
India's chief national coach Pullela Gopichand on Wednesday advised the country's shuttlers not to experiment much in their preparation ahead of the Paris Olympics, while also insisting that two-time medallist PV Sindhu has the potential to shine again at the sporting extravaganza. India will be represented by seven players across four out of five categories in the badminton competition at the Games here. Led by two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu (women's singles), the squad has HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen (men's singles), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (men's doubles), and Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto (women's doubles). "I think the generic message to all the athletes would be to treat it like another match and it's important that you don't do any strange things for preparation; keep it simple and treat it like another game, get the preparation right and the matches will take care of themselves," Gopichand told PTI ahead of Friday's opening ceremony. Talking about
Legendary shuttler Pullela Gopichand was on Sunday extremely critical of politicians and bureaucrats running sports administration in the country, saying that the government should bring a law to ensure only professionals and people who understand sports are at the helm of affairs. Speaking during the 'News9 Global Summit' here, the former All England champion, who runs a badminton academy in Hyderabad producing top players said, "One legislation, I would really love to see is the government telling that we (sportspersons) are not under bureaucrats, sports administration is not under politicians. But sports is managed by professionals and people who know stuff and who are sportspersons. "That, from a legislation point I would really want to see," said Gopichand, who is also currently the chief national badminton coach. He also called upon the government and other stakeholders to streamline the processes where an athlete could just concentrate on his training and performance without
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand has high hopes from the Indian contingent as he feels the athletes can go one step ahead in the ongoing Tokyo Games.The former Indian badminton player on Friday wished everyone who are participating in the Tokyo Olympic Games. He said that over the last one and a half years, every field of work has faced hurdles and so did the sports field.Gopichand said that he is expecting Indian players to win more medals. He stressed that this year's Olympics is not going to be easy as many players from across the country had tough times practicing their game."Every year counts for a sportsperson and it is really important that the Olympics are being conducted this year even during this Pandemic," Gopichand told ANI."We have been very fortunate as the last two times at the Olympics, we had a bronze and a silver. This time maybe we can have a medal which is probably more and better than Rio," he added.Gopichand also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and .