INDIA – Gopi’s players rule the country

The recently conducted 76th National Badminton Championships held in Bangalore proves the worth of the Badminton Academy settled by Pullela Gopichand, the former All England champion and now head coach of the India National team. Our correspondent Manoj Singh tells us why.

It was a clean sweep. Last week, during the Indian National Championships, the players from the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy scooped all gold medals. Even is Saina Nehwal – the Academy’s most renown player – was not involved in the competition, the other did the job. Including a set of youngsters who are ready to take on the International scene and who will soon step in the trace of Saina for sure, including Sourabh Verma (photo) and PV Sindhu (photo). But this is no fluke, as the former great has set up a world class Badminton Academy.

“I am very much happy with the result of these players and I hope that in the future all these players will perform well in the International level.  All these players are very young and I do aspect good result from them in the next few years” said Gopichand

The Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy, is spread on 5 acres of prime land at Gachibowli, Hyderabad. The academy neighbors include top multinational companies and prestigious institutions like the ISB and Hyderabad Central University. Today the academy has 8 Badminton courts, Gymnasium, swimming pool, running track, accommodation for 50 players / coaches, Yoga/Aerobic Studio, Cafeteria etc. Over the years, the players from the academy have contributed largely in the rise of Indian Badminton.

Saina Nehwal a product of the academy a Gold Medalist at Commonwealth Games (CWG). Other academy players include    P. Kashyap – Current world No.23 and a Bronze medalist at the CWG 2010   R.M.V. Gurusaidutt- Current World Ranking 40, H.S Prannoy Silver Medalist in Youth Olympic Games 2010, P.V.Sindhu – Gold Medalist in CYG 2011 and Bronze medal at Badminton Asia Youth Championships 2011, Sameer Verma- Silver Medal in CYG 2011 and Silver medal at Asia Championships 2011 K.Maneesha and K. Srikanth – Silver Medal in CYG 2011.TH Nagendra Babu Bronze medal at CYG 2011.  B. Sai Praneeth and H.S.Prannoy won Bronze medals at the World Junior Championships. In the latest rankings in the country 3 of the top 4 in the men’s and the women’s category are from our academy. Apart from this the academy has been the training center for the Commonwealth Games team since 2008 and is presently training the players for the Olympics 2012.

The result of the National Championships:

Men Singles:
Sourabh Verma beat B. Sai Praneeth by 21-19, 21-19
Women Singles:
P V Sindhu beat Neha Pandit by 21-9, 21-14
Men Doubles:
Arun Vishnu / Kona Tarun beat K T Rupesh Kumar / Sanave Thomas by 21-16, 16-21, 21-18
Women Doubles:
Pradnya Gadre/Prajakta Sawant beat Aparna Balan / Sikki Reddy by 21-19, 22-20
Mixed Doubles:
Arun Vishnu / Aparna Balan Won against Pranav Chopra/Prajakta Sawant by 21-16, 17-21, 21-19