HYDERABAD: Earlier on Monday, there was a buzz over ace shuttler Saina Nehwal rejoining the Pullela Gopichand Academy after a gap of three long years. All kinds of speculations were made regarding the possible reason for the former World No 1 to move back to her previous coach, the foremost being her wish to move back to her hometown, Hyderabad.
Finally, Saina took to the social media and cleared the air regarding her decision. In a series of tweets, the 27-year-old wrote, “For a while I’ve been thinking about moving my training base back to the Gopichand academy and I had a discussion about this with Gopi sir and I am really thankful to him for agreeing to help me again. At this stage in my career I think he can help me achieve my goals.
“I’m also very thankful to Vimal sir for helping me for the last three years. He helped reach World No 1 in the rankings. And also helped me win two World Championships medal silver in 2015 and bronze in 2017 along with many super series titles. I m very happy to be back home and train in Hyderabad. Keep supporting friends,” she added.
This big decision does not really come in as a surprise as during the World Championship, social media was filled with pictures of Saina and Gopichand, the latter rumoured to be helping her with her game. Indian team’s physio Kiran Challagundla, who was present at Glasgow testified the same. “Saina was in touch with Gopi during the championship. The talks had started there, but nothing really was confirmed. The decision was made today. Also Saina had been training at the academy ever since she came back, and was going to train here till she leaves for her next tournament in Korea.”
Vimal Kumar has whole-heartedly supported his former ward’s decision, and says that Saina moving back to Gopi might take her to greater heights. Also the Bangalorean feels that it’s a professional decision, and people shouldn’t attach emotions to such trivial matters. “When were coming back from Glasgow, Saina expressed her wish to go back to Hyderabad and train with coach Mulyo Handoyo and Gopi. I welcome that decision as I believe that a player’s career is really short and they should do whatever they can to stay at the top. I have no hard feelings for her. In fact she can always come back to me for help. We should all respect her decision,” Vimal said.
madhav@newindianexpress.com