Confident about their preparation for the upcoming World Championships, India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said the home shuttlers have the best chance of winning multiple medals at the prestigious tournament next month.
- Gopichand hopes doubles coach will get India more Olympic spots
For the first time, India will have a World No 2 and World No 3 in Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth respectively participating in the World Championship when it gets underway at Jakarta in Indonesia from August 10-16.
"We stand a good chance to win medals at multiple events this time but having said that it is the World Championship, we have to deliver to win and it is important to perform on that particular day and ranking doesn't matter. But we can say that we have a few players who can get into the medal slot," Gopichand told PTI.
"We had a good training camp for the event. There is (Parupalli) Kashyap, Srikanth, (PV) Sindhu, (HS) Prannoy. Of course, Prannoy has just recovered from his injury but I am happy with the way he is progressing and he would be playing the event," he added.
A Commonwealth Games champion, Kashyap has been blowing hot and cold this season but his last outing saw him defeat World No 1 Chen Long of China at Indonesia in June.
Asked about Kashyap, Gopichand said: "I think physically, it is always a challenge for Kashyap because of his body type. He has asthma also. But he puts in a lot of effort on the court and in my book he is playing the best badminton right now."
A two-time world championship bronze medallist, Sindhu had a difficult season this year which was marred by injury.
She missed the All England and India Open, Malaysia Open too owing to a navicular stress fracture on her left leg. She made a comeback in Badminton Asia Championship in April but has struggled leading to third and second round exits.
"I am not expecting her (Sindhu) to perform consistently after a break of three months. It is not a matter of concern, I think we have to give her a little time."
Srikanth had a stupendous start to the season with titles at Swiss Grand Prix Gold and India Super Series and a runners-up at the Syed Modi International GPG but he pulled out of BAC in China citing fitness issues.
However, after making a comeback, Srikanth could not cross the second round at Australia, Indonesia and Chinese Taipei.
"He needs to understand that he has to adapt to the conditions a little better. It is going to challenging because people will give him a lot of respect and prepare for him. We are working on it and hopefully we will overcome it."
