Bhaskar Babu replaces Pullela Gopichand to train Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap – Badminton news
India’s Bhaskar Babu has replaced Pullela Gopichand to train Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap for the World and Olympic Championships.
Both shuttlers are the top seeds in India in the categories of Women’s and Men’s Singles.
Recently, Saina and Kashyap left Gopichand, who is the national coach of India and started to train with Bhaskar who was a state player in his youth but failed to produce good results at domestic or international level.
In 1987, Bhaskar turned to coaching and trained many players including Sudhir Babu, B Kiran Kumar and Neelima Chowdary. His dedication and commitment with the coaching profession earned him a position in the group of national coaches.
Gopichand expressed that Saina and Kashyap requested to the Sports Authority of India that both want to train with Bhaskar. The national coach said that he has no problem with this decision of the players as he has the responsibility to train many other
shuttlers in the national squad.
Many people think that there are some clashes between Saina and Gopichand. While talking about such rumours, Saina said that there is no such clash between them and she respects Gopichand. She also said that Gopichand has many other responsibilities to fulfil
and she needs a full time coach.
Bhaskar spoke on the issue and said, “As Gopi is busy with other players and assignments, he has not been able to concentrate on Saina and Kashyap as much as he wants to. I have taken up the responsibility of helping them in their preparations and accompanying
them to international tournaments. Everything is fine. Both Saina and Kashyap still train at Gopi’s academy in Gachibowli.”
Bhaskar is focusing on Indian top seed Women’s and Men’s Singles shuttlers to prepare them for the upcoming 2011 World Badminton Championships and 2012 London Olympics.
Both players are working hard to get a respectable result in the mega event which will be played at the Wembley Indoor Arena in London, England from August 8 to 14, 2011.
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