The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : Great depth in singles, says Gopi Chand

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Great depth in singles, says Gopi Chand

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The confidence of Indian shuttlers preparing at the Pullela Gopi Chand Academy in Gachibowli is at a high ahead of the Asian Zone qualifying rounds for the Thomas and the Uber Cups to be held in Thailand from February 22.

India’s chief national coach Gopi Chand said that the national team was no more a push-over even in this event which he felts was tougher than the Sudirman Cup because the top Asian teams will be fielding their best possible combinations.

“We do have a chance to qualify but should be ready for a huge challenge,” he said.

“Honestly, never in recent times has the Indian team had so much depth in singles. Even the doubles combinations are doing remarkably well at the highest levels now,” Gopi said.

“Essentially, there are only four slots in men’s section and three for women’s. The competition features some of the big guns of Asia like Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei,” he said.

Gopi, however, was frank enough to admit that the Thomas and the Uber cups were more demanding than any other Grand Prix events. “The players are bound to be involved in very tough games meaning lot of pressure matches,” he added.

“In a way the trip to Thailand should also give us a fair idea of our preparations and also our strengths and weaknesses ahead of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games,” Gopi said.

Saina Nehwal said that her preparations were good. “I don’t think being a top 10 player in the world will make any difference in these events. Definitely, I will be more confident this time around compared to my previous experience in 2008.

“But we must remember that most of the young girls in Asia are really doing well of late. There is no scope for any complacency in this format or for that matter at this level,” she added. “It is too big an event to make predictions. But as Gopi Sir said we have lot of depth and especially with Gutta Jwala and V. Diju doing so well in doubles, the problem area can only be the second and third singles,” she said.

The teams: For Thomas Cup: Chetan Anand, P. Kashyap, Aravind Bhat, Anup Sridhar, Guru Sai Dutt, Sanave Thomas, Rupesh Kumar, V. Diju, Jishnu Sanyal and Akshay Dewalkar.

For Uber Cup: Saina Nehwal, Tripti Murugunde, Sayali Gokhale, V. Gayatri, P. C. Thulasi, Gutta Jwala, Ashwani Ponappa, Shruti Kurien and Aparna Balan.

Chief coach: Pullela Gopi Chand. Assistant coach: U. Bhaskar Babu (SAI).

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