Saina Nehwal, the current women’s world no. 2, relies more on speed and power than skill, P.V.
Saina Nehwal, the current women’s world no. 2, relies more on speed and power than skill, P.V. Sindhu is probably the best attacking player around, and Indian badminton owes everything to national coach Pullela Gopichand. These were but a few of the opinions put forward by Japan’s national badminton coach and South Korean badminton legend Park Joo-bong.
“Saina has a powerful, quick game. But, when compared to other top-4 players in the world, she doesn’t have as much skill. She is heavily reliant on speed and power,” Park said here on Friday.
“She is obviously very good at what she does, which is how she became world no. 1,” he added.
“Sindhu, on the other hand, has the height and the reach. She is quite an attacking player, perhaps more so than even Wang Yihan or Li Xuerui,” he added.
Park, visibly impressed with the giant strides the sport has made in the country, gave a nod of approval to Gopi.
“Indian badminton is where it is today only because of Gopichand,” Joo-bong said.
“Earlier, when Prakash Padukone was the coach, good players were the exception. Under Gopi, they have become the norm. He is solely responsible for putting a system in place. He made the game what it is in India,” he added.
The soft-spoken badminton hall-of-famer, who won an Olympic gold, five world titles and nine All England crowns (all in doubles), is also betting on Japan’s women’s doubles team for an Olympic medal at Rio de Janeiro.
