I hope it is not 20 years before we win another All England: Pullela Gopichand

In an exclusive interaction, legendary badminton player and chief national coach Pullela Gopichand talks to G Krishnan about Sindhu’s win in Finals, need for better structuring of youth programmes and empowering coaches to help young talent. Excerpts:

You often say that with each passing year, the results for Indian badminton have been getting better. How do you look back at 2018 the way the Indian shuttlers have done?

I think every two years for us are important years. We had the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games which were the primary goals for the year, two medals at the Asiad (women's singles silver and bronze), a gold (women's singles) and a team gold at the Commonwealth Games, these were the highlights for me apart from the other medals. So for me, 2018 has been a good year. It was also a challenging year because of the new regulations. Added to that, you had the CWG and the Asian Games, it was tough for the players. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu did very well. Kidambi Srikanth had a sort of not-so-good year. But I think at the CWG, he was good.

In the last few months, apart from (Kento) Momota (of Japan) and Chou Tien Chen (of Chinese Taipei), he did not lose to many players. As the season went, he was getting better. In the PBL, he was good and would have gained confidence in a lot of ways, I would think.

Our doubles players did well, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did well, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy did well. It's good to see somebody like Sameer (Verma) come up with a performance of promise at the end of the year. For me, all in all, I would say it could have been better. We can argue about it but I would take it.

...And the goals for 2019?

This is going to be a crazy year of qualifications. The big events would be the All England and the World Championships. Hopefully, we can win them. These are my targets. But at the end of the year, the preparations would be for 2020 Olympics. I am hoping they would give some good performances and up their rankings and form by winning now and then, and just be ready to have a good go for the 2020 Olympics.

Do the preparations for 2020 Games begin now or is there still time?

I think the qualifications make it very important because top 16 is not going to be easy for the men's singles players. The qualifications start in April. Basically, whatever you do before that becomes null and void in a lot of way. I think it is important that they stay fit, stay focussed and we have the maximum qualifications getting here, and then good preparation before the Olympics are what I am looking forward to.

You touched upon Satwik and Chirag as doing well in men's doubles. How has the Indian doubles scene improved since having the specialist coach from Malaysia?

I think Satwik and Chirag have definitely improved (ranked 16th). There's also Shlok (Ramchandran) and MR Arjun (ranked 40th), there's Manu (Attri) and Sumeeth (Reddy) (ranked 25th) who have done well. We have Dhruv (Kapila) and Krishna Prasad who have been top in the world juniors. We have had some good performances in the men's doubles. In mixed doubles, we have two of those pairs (Ashwini Ponnappa/Satwiksairaj and Sikki Reddy/Pranaav Jerry Chopra), in women's doubles, we have a couple of them (Ashwini/Sikki and J Meghana/SR Poorvisha). So, am happy. But, I would love to see more depth and more kids taking up doubles. Because, the numbers on that front are not as many as I would really want.

What would BWF Tour Finals win last month do to PV Sindhu's confidence? Until then, there was this question mark of her crossing the final hurdle after getting to the title round?

I had no doubt in my mind that none of the talk that was happening was about her mentally not being good enough in the finals to win was a reality because when I looked at her, I definitely knew that she was there. Maybe if there was doubt in her mind or in the people's mind, that is at least off the back. I don't see much more relevance than that to the BWF Tour Finals. The BWF Tour Finals is a big tournament. Her beating Tai Tzu Ying, Nozomi Okuhara, Akane Yamaguchi, Ratchanok Intanon, Zhang Beiwen. Getting a chance to beat four top players, to win each of those matches within a week is top quality. I'm happy about it. At least in my mind, I am sure, it is not the mental side, she lost each of the tournaments because of a certain reason and not because she was mentally not for it.

How did she handle it when she was losing finals repeatedly?

That doesn't matter. She has had a fabulous year. I am not talking to her as to why she lost the finals. At the end of the day, with the kind of competition you have, you have reached five super finals. That's a great year. Whatever tournament she went to, she got a medal. I don't think we can find fault with her performances there. I was very positive and very happy for those results.

When we talk about Indian badminton, it is often about Sindhu, Saina and Srikanth. How do you look at the next set of shuttlers?

Today, Indian badminton needs to look at things differently. Our youth programme, our junior programme, our structuring of tournaments, all of them need to be a lot better. I think we need to invest in them. We have got the numbers but we need the structure. What worked for us years ago may not work for us now. We need to structure our programmes, empower our coaches – we have more coaches – and push them to work harder.

Can you elaborate on the structuring of programmes that you touched upon? Isn't the Gopichand Academy enough?

The bunch of players who are there, they will come up. But for the next so many of them, it is important that you need to filter it down to systems. The transformation from being a good junior to a world-class athlete is something that needs to be managed and done with a lot of care. They should invest and be very scientific about their progress to the next level.

What should Sindhu or Saina need to be doing to beat world No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying on a regular basis? The Chinese Taipei shuttler seems to be at a different level from the rest. Do you agree?

From the game's perspective, anyone of the top five can win on a given day. I wouldn't really think it is very very important to focus on that aspect (of beating Tai). Having said that, Tai has been a fantastic player. It is not that she is invincible. Last week, she lost to Ratchanok (in Malaysian Masters). Previously, she lost to Sindhu (in World Tour Finals). I believe it is possible to beat her. Saina and Sindhu have the potential to beat any of the top players. A Marin on a day is very good. A Tai on a day, Ratchanok on a day, the two Japanese (Yamaguchi and Okuhara)… There are about 7-8 players who are of top quality and depending on the conditions, will be definitely tough players to beat.

How much importance do you give to the No. 1 ranking?

The top four is one level, so that it helps in the draws, you don't draw the top players in the next round. From that perspective, it makes a difference. Otherwise, I don't see much in No. 1 ranking.

You were the last Indian to win All England 18 years ago. When do you see another Indian winning it?

Before me, and between me and Prakash sir (Padukone, who won 1980 All England to be the first Indian to do so), there were not many players who could challenge, who could go into a tournament thinking of winning. And it took 20 years. Between then and now, there have been a lot of players who have the potential to win. I hope it is not 20 years before we win another All England.

Is winning the All England the ultimate in badminton?

At one point of time, it was the ultimate because it has a legacy and history. Having the Olympics, I would place Olympics as the No. 1 event and after that, the World Championships and All England in the same bracket.