NEW DELHI: National chief coach Pullela Gopichand was witness to Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand's epic performance on Friday. However, he stood helpless as the women's pair ended their impressive World Championships campaign with a bronze medal the next day. Despite the day's setback, the legendary coach, also the father of Gayatri, was filled with pride.
"I'm very proud of the way she's played. With God's grace, in a family (...) there are two Arjuna awardees. Two players, two Arjuna awardees. It's rare. I'm grateful to God for this. And yes, I'm very proud of her performance and her results. And the way she has conducted herself," the former All England champion told reporters on Saturday.
PV Sindhu, who was chasing a historic sixth medal, put up a fighting performance but ended up on the losing side against China's Wang Zhi Yi in the Round of 16 stage while Lakshya Sen suffered an upset defeat against Garett Tan of the USA. Despite missing out on a medal, Gopichand felt Sindhu is showing signs of playing well and he hoped Lakshya can bounce back after a forgettable tournament.
"I think PV Sindhu's result was a bit too close. A bit unfortunate she lost that match the way she did. But I think going back to her Japan Open win and her performance here, I think she's definitely doing very well. For Lakshya, I think this tournament was bad, unfortunately. I don't specifically know what the reasons were. But Lakshya's been somebody who has over time, he has been very consistent. So it'll come back."
Youngster Ayush Shetty, who was making his first appearance at the coveted event, made a dream start by knocking out Shi Yu Qi of China in the opening round but he couldn't quite capitalise on that performance. Unnnati Hooda also missed out after suffering a narrow defeat. Gopichand felt this – close games, ups and downs – is the nature of the sport and he hopes that the players can come up with an improved service in the upcoming Asian Games.
"Overall, it has been a little unfortunate that we have lost some close matches. In women's singles, we lost both the matches by close margins. In men's singles, Ayush's (Shetty) first day was very good, but the second day was a little bit disappointing. But overall, I think we were decent. In that sense, I won't be too worried about it. Some days, these things do happen. But the next time around, at the Asian Games, I'm hoping for a better performance."