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What’s the story?
Pullela Gopichand believes that athletes should not put undue pressure on themselves and just concentrate on doing the right things during their preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In case you did not know
Pullela Gopichand won the 2001 All England Open Badminton Championships that was held in Birmingham. He is also the recipient of two Commonwealth Games medals that he won in 1998.
The heart of the story
Indian Badminton team chief coach believes that the Tokyo-bound Indian Olympic athletes should not push themselves too hard and prepare themselves well for the Olympics by concentrating on doing the correct things.
He said that he believes PV Sindhu has great potential to win a medal in the upcoming quadrennial event. He also stressed that pressure will be high on Sindhu to win a Gold medal but this should not cause an impediment to the youngster in preparing well for the mega event.
"There will be pressure but Sindhu has delivered in the big tournaments all throughout in the last few years which is really fantastic and this time I hope it's the same. She has always done well with good preparation, this time around we have some time before the Olympics, and I do hope that she delivers," Gopichand said at the launch of 'Dreams of a Billion, India and the Olympic Games' – a book written by Boria Majumdar and Nalin Mehta, in New Delhi.
"If you treat the Olympics like some super event then you are not going to be successful. Big tournaments need good preparation but if you put undue pressure on yourself then it’s not a great way of achieving success. It's important to keep grounded, do the simple things right and consistently and hopefully the medal will come," he added.
What’s next?
Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth need to consistently perform at their best in all the upcoming tournaments to be able to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and find themselves in a rather precarious position.
Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if Sindhu adheres to Gopichand's advice and keeps her nerve in the quest for a Gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
