Not having a formidable second doubles pair after Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa essentially cost India a place in the Uber Cup final and chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand admits that a "lot of work needs to done" in the area
Pullela Gopichand
New Delhi: Not having a formidable second doubles pair after Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa essentially cost India a place in the Uber Cup final and chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand admits that a "lot of work needs to done" in the area.
Pullela Gopichand
Though India performed beyond expectations to reach the semi-finals of the World Women's Team Championship to secure their historic and maiden bronze medal, they lost the last four clash to Japan 2-3 despite being 2-0 up.
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"There is a lot of work which needs to be done on the doubles front. We can only develop players once they come to a certain level. In India, we don't have the same amount of freedom the foreign coaches have," said Gopichand.
The former All-England champion said Indian coaches don't have the same kind of authority foreign coaches have for grooming doubles pair.
"We can produce singles players individually but in doubles you need a lot of grooming and for that you need a lot of freedom as a coach.
"Also, till the age of 19 there is no specialisation," said the Padma Bhushan awardee.
"We need tougher laws so if someone is selected for doubles he/she can only play doubles and if you are selected for singles, you will only play singles. But that kind of authority is not there. We're too democratic."
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