All Olympic-Bound Shuttlers to Train at Gachibowli Stadium, Per Coach Gopichand’s Instructions

Preparations for the upcoming Olympics kicked into a higher gear for the Indian shuttlers as Chief Coach Pullela Gopichand decided to move the training into the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, in Hyderabad. The move will help the players acclimatize themselves to the kind of conditions that are likely to be encountered at the Tokyo Olympics later this year.

The coach visited the indoor stadium yesterday and to catch a glimpse of PV Sindhu who has been training at the facility for the past few months and will now be joined in by her compatriots – Sai Praneeth, Satiwk Sairaj & Chirag Shetty. 

A new floor matting was laid at the stadium to facilitate training for the new set of players and there has been a request made for the AC to be made available such that they can train for the drift they are likely to encounter in Tokyo.

With just two months to go for the 2021 Olympic games, the preparations have not hit the home stretch with players and coaches homing in the techniques that they hope will put the shuttlers in contention for glory in Japan.

A bronze in London for Saina, and a Silver for Sindhu in Rio have been noteworthy achievements for the Indian contingent and there are high expectations from the team going into the quadrennial event in Japan. Sindhu will bear a lot of expectations to better her result from 2016, as she guns for the gold – especially in the absence of defending champion Carolina Marin.

Sai Praneeth has been a consistent performer on the international circuit, and his exploits at the 2019 World Championships make him a serious contender for silverware at Tokyo 2021. Meanwhile, doubles players Satwik Sairaj & Chirag Shetty could arguably be termed the most improved men’s doubles team over the last couple of years. They’ve played exciting badminton and with the help of the new doubles coach Mathias Boe will be looking forward to some big exploits at the Olympics.