“Sad about Srikanth’s failure to qualify for the Olympics,” Pullela Gopichand

“Sad about Srikanth’s failure to qualify for the Olympics,” Pullela Gopichand

Kidambi Srikanth

Pullela Gopichand is often dubbed “Dronacharya” of Indian badminton. He has coached all the players who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics this year namely PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, and the doubles players Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.

Gopichand, who runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy, said he is glad that the players who could not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics took the news in their stride and coped well with it.

Srikanth missed his spot at the Tokyo Olympics by just a couple of quarterfinals: Gopichand

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In an interview with CNN-News18, when the Gopichand was asked about the poor qualification for the Olympics, with just qualifications in three out of five categories, Gopichand said that it had been a tough year for the athletes, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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With many cancellations just before the Olympic Qualification period, it has been a stressful time for the badminton coach and his students as well. While he is sad about Srikanth’s failure to qualify for the Olympics, he is happy for those who qualified. Srikanth missed the qualification by just a couple of wins in the quarterfinals and subsequent cancellation of the Singapore Open.

Pullela Gopichand and PV Sindhu
P Gopichand and PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth shall be competing in the Women’s and Men’s Singles while Chirag Shetty and Rankireddy shall be competing in the Men’s Doubles in the badminton tournament of Tokyo Olympics scheduled to take place between July 24th and 2nd August 2021.

Also Read : “Please check the results” – Pullela Gopichand responds to Jwala Gutta’s criticism of his academy