Chinese no. 1 long thrashed in 39 mins in semis by Viktor Axelsen.
Will china win any worthwhile medal in the world championship this year ?
What Is the reason for this decline due to ?
Nice interview from All england winner.
http://indianexpress.com/article/sp...nese-discipline-players-with-mobiles-4813849/
Chinese discipline was top notch, now you see players with mobiles: Pullela Gopichand
Gopichand said that badminton was big for India till 1983-4 with Prakash Padukone. However, after that no one was really taking badminton players seriously.
Written by
Shivani Naik |Updated: August 26, 2017 11:08 am
Pullela Gopichand said that the Chinese system was built by some great coaches, and it worked longer than any other. (Source: File)
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India coach Pullela Gopichand talks to The Indian Express on a day he celebrated a festival and a Sindhu entry into the semi-final
What all does the coach pack into a day at the World Championships?
Well today, we had the entire Ganesh Puja, complete with lemon rice and three types of sweets that our masseuse Shrinivas made for us. Then these two different results with Srikanth and Sindhu. Srikanth was superbly defensive at the start, and superbly attacking later and by the time he figured things out, it was over. It’s tough to win on these slow courts. We just need to stretch well, relax well and come well prepared the next day.
What do you recall of the 2014 Commonwealth Games where Sindhu couldn’t win the expected gold medal?
It was an important match, a very emotional battle for me. She was expected to win gold. Saina wasn’t here and Commonwealth and Asian Games are important for us so Sindhu was expected to step up. She was losing something she should have won. And on the adjacent court, Kashyap had just barely managed to scrape through. I should have sat for her match because she was quite immature to handle the big stage, and we let the opportunity slip by. It evened out because Kashyap won the gold for us, so there was some saving grace, but it had hurt that she couldn’t win then.
Was it an important stepping stone in her maturing as a player?
I don’t know because even after 15 years someone like Lee Chong Wei can get shaky and nervous and lose. So these things happen. Today morning, Srikanth lost but we know he’ll play till age 33-34 and once he gets his body sorted out, there’ll be other World Championships to win. So we can’t be hung up on this. This is just one loss in the bigger bargain.
Have fortunes turned for China and India in women’s singles?
Well, to be honest, it happens. They had a transition in players and coaches – some were out with personal breaks. The Chinese system was built by some great coaches, and it worked longer than any other. Li Yongbo wanted to win badly and that time the discipline was top notch. Right now, you see all Chinese players with cell phones, something you’d never have seen 10 years ago. But it won’t be correct to write them off because we’ve beaten them today. They have some good young players, and they’ll be back.
Has the fear-factor of the Chinese reduced?
Well, when we travelled we used to be wide-eyed. It’s changed for youngsters now, and we’re happy to be beating them. Our u/13, u/15 teams were in Indonesia, and they didn’t really care if they were up against the Chinese or get scared of the prospect. When we were young, we used to go and just keep watching the Chinese and Indonesians train. Now the face of the opponent or the country doesn’t matter for our next bunch, they know they can beat them. So there’s healthy respect in that rivalry now.
Cricket often gets political undertones when India-Pakistan play. Does India–China have the same vibe in badminton?
It happens in badminton with other countries. There used to be riots across Indonesia – Malaysia when one or the other player lost to the other. There might even have been a war! India and China not so much though people started seeing Sindhu’s rise very differently against this backdrop. There’s a certain section of the population that might see it that way – where you have to beat the Chinese, but we have to be more practical and stay focussed on the game.
Is India considered a serious rival internationally now?
Badminton was big for India till 1983-4 with Prakash Sir. But after that no one was really taking badminton players seriously. When I started out, we would never cross Round 1 and matches would get over in 15-20 minutes with scores at 5, 4 or 3. For many years we never made the pre-quarterfinals of the All England. Maybe, Vimal made one pre quarterfinal but he was based out of here and it was different.
But when travelling from India, it used to be like playing against a stadium full of Chinese with 500 people shouting against us. We would feel like gladiators fighting battles in alien lands.
Did you enjoy how the tide turned at All England finally?
It used to be a very tough time back then, travelling all alone without coach or physio or team. Not like now when the whole team travels (this time India sent 24).
We would have to sleep and eat in some gymnasiums or at a Gurudwara. I used to hate England back then. I used to be a very angry with the world in those days. I wasn’t very friendly at all.
Okay. Why not like England?
Because they ruled over us for 200 years. I used to be very nationalistic back then.
Okay. Do the players get as sentimental about say, beating a Chinese?
Me, yes. The players maybe not. Those were different times. We used to barely travel out for tournaments – maybe 3-4 in a year. Now these guys are at 20 tournaments a year. In two weeks’ time they’ll fly out to Korea, so they tend to be more professional about these things. For us, sometimes All England was our only chance to play, and we’d come up against rivals very few times, so we would stew about any incident for longer. Also, this points system doesn’t help players to be emotional about these small things.
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