Kashyap needs some more time to be consistent, says Pullela Gopichand

Ahmedabad: National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand on Sunday said shuttler P Kashyap, who crashed out of the Indonesia Open with a semifinal loss, should be given some more time to become consistent. Gopichand also praised Kashyap on his victory against world number one Chen Long in the quarterfinals. “When I started coaching there was a time they said that Indian men and women have done well. Then there came a point when Saina (Nehwal) was there and then we had (P V) Sindhu. And suddenly there was a question that only Indian women seemed to be coming up and why not Indian men,” Gopichand said. [caption id=“attachment_2284400” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Parupalli Kashyap. AFP[/caption] “Today we see somebody like Srikanth, Kashyap and Prannoy there. All of them are doing well. Definitely, we have it in us and just another step forward we will even get those results. It was fantastic to see Kashyap win against Chen Long. I think he needs some more time to be consistent,” he added. Kashyap was ousted from Indonesian Open Super Series with a semifinal loss to eighth seed Japanese Momota Kento. Earlier, he had defeated world number one Chen Long of China in quarterfinals on June 5. Gopichand, the first sportsperson to be awarded both Arjuna and Dronacharya awards, was in the city for an event organized by the ‘Sport Authority of Gujarat’, where he has been roped in as the coach of a proposed badminton academy in Vadodara. Asked if India would dominate the international badminton arena in the near future, he expressed confidence that the Indian shuttlers would scale higher heights. “Burdens like this (dominance) will definitely help. I think larger the pool of players who are getting the right kind of training more and more players will be pumped into the top areas of world badminton. In that we will spur to higher heights, this is what my belief is,” he said. Gopichand applauded Indian shuttlers for their performance in doubles matches. “In the last few years…we have seen women’s and men’s badminton come up and if you look at last few rounds we had some good performances from Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa,” he said. “But if you look at Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Atri, they have done well to beat world top ten players in Asian Games and then in the world championship. We had also some good performance from our mixed doubles,” he added. Gopichand also expressed hope that Gujarat would give champions in the sport. “I am excited! It’s great news to see the kind of support and encouragement for sports in general in Gujarat and definitely badminton should not lag behind. That is what my belief is and hopefully we will have many more champions from Gujarat state,” he said. Asked about his observations on what Gujarat lacked in terms of sports, Gopichand said the state needs better infrastructure and support. “The moment you put these two things in place you give them the infrastructure or the coaching and the system which is required to nurture,” he added. “I am sure there is a talent in abundance (in Gujarat) and we just need to work hard. We need to give them right facilities and right encouragement. I am positive with the right kind of training with young kids who will give us good results,” he said. Gopichand also said apart from Gujarat, he will also train badminton players of Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, Director General of Sports Authority of Gujarat (SAG) Sandip Pradhan said around four players will be trained at the academy by at least four coaches. He also said that the SAG is planning to get an Indonesian expert coach apart from Gopichand. PTI