Indian shuttlers gear up their preparations for 2012 London Olympics – Badminton news
The Olympic Games are just six months away and Indian shuttlers are sweating more to put up a good show at the event. Not only the players have pulled up their socks, but the federation also is investing all their resources just to bring the gold medal back
home.
Preparations that started last April have reached at its peak as around Rs. 46 million have been spent on training and foreign exposure to boost the shuttlers’ performances. The programme under which Indian shuttlers are preparing has been named as ‘Operation
excellence for London Olympics (OPEX)’ which indicates the serious efforts of the governing body to secure medals at the mega event.
Under this operation, 38 players have been practising in national coaching camps under the supervision of ten coaches. Out of these 38, only those shuttlers who are in the top-32 will get their tickets to London.
In the category of Women’s Singles, the World Number Four Saina Nehwal will lead Indian squad as she is the only female shuttler in the country who is in the top-10 bracket of the world rankings. She has also achieved a certain level of skills and can spoil
the party of any top shuttler on a given day.
Spirits and expectations are high as Indian badminton pundits are predicting that Saina has a fair chance of bagging the gold medal at the event. Saina will have good practice in Uber Cup, All England Championship, India Super Series and the Indonesia Open
before the mega event.
National coach Pullela Gopichand is satisfied with her performance in Super Series events as she has performed well so far and stands a good chance of making an upset at the Olympic Games. The coach said, “She has a good chance of winning a medal (at the
Olympics).”
While talking about another young shuttler, P.V Sindhu, the coach said, “Sindhu looks the most promising among the youngsters. She is very strong and has the game that is required to excel at the international level”.
Presently, the World Number 27 Ajay Jayaram and number 29 Parupalli Kashyap are two talented Indians in Men’s Singles category who are struggling hard to make the cut for Olympics. Both stand a chance to qualify for the tournament if they deliver extra ordinary
performances in the upcoming tournaments.
In the category of Women’s Doubles, India will be depending on Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, as they are ranked higher in the world standings when compared to any other shuttler in India.
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