Danish great Peter Gade, who lost to Pullela Gopichand in the semi-finals of the 2001 edition in the United Kingdom, hails India's badminton potential
Only two Indians have won the prestigious All England Championships — Prakash Padukone in 1980 and Pullela Gopichand in 2001. But a third Indian bagging top honours in the premier competition could be just around the corner, felt Danish badminton great Peter Gade. Gade won the title in 1999 and lost to Gopichand in the semi-finals of the 2001 edition which the Indian won. So he knows what India national coach Gopichand is capable of and is appreciative of his wards. "PV Sindhu won a silver at the Rio Olympics, Kidambi Srikanth has won quite a few Super Series events, so I feel that an Indian winning the All England could happen very soon. It's really important for the game of badminton that India produce players at this level and the big results will come sooner than later," said Gade on the sidelines of the media interaction for the Yonex The Legends' Vision tour on Saturday.
International badminton stars Taufik Hidayat (left), Peter Gade, Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and Lee Yong-dae pose for a picture after the Yonex The Legends' Vision tour press conference at a city hotel yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble
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The others badminton greats at the briefing were Malaysians Taufik Hidayat and Lee Chong Wei, China's Lin Dan and South Korean Lee Yong-dae. Gade said the power center of the game has consistently been Asia. "We have more different countries taking part from Asia and Europe, but I still see the power center as Asia. We have seen Carolina Marin from Spain and a few others. I have been working with the French team, trying to produce players, a few things are happening.
"Denmark and a few other European countries are also producing players at the highest level, but there is a lot of attention and resources available in Asia, and we still have a lot of work towards doing so in Europe to bring our badminton to the same level," added Gade, claiming that the current crop of men's singles players are highly competitive.
"You have younger players, who are making an impact, like Srikanth and Danish Viktor Axelsen [the current men's singles world champion], so it's a very exciting period for men's singles," said Gade.
Hidayat hails his ex-coach Handoyo
Malaysian badminton great Taufik Hidayat yesterday hailed his former coach Mulyo Handoyo for contributing to the rise of India's singles brigade in the recent past. Handoyo is currently training India's singles players at the Gopichand academy in Hyderabad. "He [Mulyo] is like my friend, brother and father. I can share anything with him," said Hidayat, who won gold at the Athens Olympics.
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