National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Monday announced his affiliation with the badminton programme of The Sports School Anup Sridhar Badminton Academy in Bengaluru as a mentor.
"I have been following the work of The Sports School quite closely, their vision is very much aligned with mine. I have known Anup Sridhar for the last two decades, both as player and coach. I am delighted to work closely with Anup Sridhar at The Sports School. Our goal is to make India a dominating force in the world of Badminton," Gopichand said.
"I think for a long period of India, we as a nation have only looked at literacy from an alphabetical and numerical sense. We have lost a lot on physical literacy. I think it is very important that we as a country start to look at exercise activity as a key component.
"It is also important that schools start to take care of it because we don't' have time, motivation or facilities at home. Education and sports need to go together. I am happy that the Sports School is starting Anup Sridhar Badminton Academy," Gopichand told ANI.
He continued: "In the last couple of years, things have changed. Today top players have personal teams. It is time I believe that my role needs to move from being somebody's who is in court and pushing players to actually ensuring that we have a coach development programme system in place. We should start using the expertise of many of the top players who are going to retire in the next few years or who have retired, academies and centres to ensure that all of them funnel in to actually make India a sporting and a badminton powerhouse."
Speaking on the development, Anup Sridhar said: "I know Gopi for more than 20 years. I have played against him and trained under him for many years. After becoming a coach, I have realised that it is a tough job. I would love to be associated with him. The two of us working together will be a very powerful team.
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