Elite shuttlers to begin training

He is still in Guntur so it’s unlikely that he can resume training on Friday. Praneeth confirmed to this daily that he will go. 
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal. (Photo | AP)
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal. (Photo | AP)

CHENNAI: Badminton Olympic hopefuls will restart training at the SAI Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad from Friday. Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand confirmed the development to this daily. “We will be starting training tomorrow (Friday) and the progression we will decide after looking at the players’ fitness levels and also the coming tournaments,” he said.

“We will take this journey forward step by step. Overall, the players are happy and excited to be in training.” A circular from SAI went to all the players who will be part of this camp. While PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Sai Praneeth are all expected to be present from Friday, the fourth singles exponent, Kidambi Srikanth, may take a few days to begin.

He is still in Guntur so it’s unlikely that he can resume training on Friday. Praneeth confirmed to this daily that he will go. But it’s likely that doubles training, comprising Sikki Reddy, Ashwini Ponnappa, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty,  will take time to catch speed. It’s because three of the four players are not in Hyderabad now. Ashwini is training at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, while Chirag is in Mumbai.

His partner, Satwiksairaj, is in his hometown of Amalapuram. So suffice to say doubles training may take time to restart, a point Sikki touched upon. “There is no clarity on who I will train with,” she said. “Ashwini (her doubles partner) is in Bengaluru. I can train with Sumeeth Reddy (not an Olympic hopeful) or with a few of the youngsters at the academy.

To this suggestion, I haven’t yet got a reply. Hopefully, there is clarity on Friday.”  Coming back to Gopichand point about the ‘journey’ of the players in the camp being a step by step process, the players need not rush. Even as other sports have restarted, the Badminton World Federation has had to cancel many events because of the pandemic. The next tournament begins on October 13 (Denmark Open) so the Olympic hopefuls have enough time to build their fitness before increasing the load.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com