Ok so I have been following how Gopi has been performing after he had 3-4 surgeries done so late in his career (hes around 30 ish I think and he had 3-4 ankle/knee surgeries done late last year or early this year) . He had no trouble in all the qualifying rounds he played in the Malaysian, Singapre opens and Danish opens but he is certainly not playing at any level close to the top 20 ... He lost pretty tamely (from the scores - - in straigh sets to Park sung Hwan 15-2, 15 -5 (german open) , - straight sets to Chen Yu 15-3,15-2 Danish open , - again in straight sets to Niels Kaldau Malaysianopen? - but he went the distance against Ng Wei 3 setter Singapore Open I think ) I might have the last 2 tournaments mixed up but I have his opponents right... At 30 has he slowly started fading away much like Prakash (Padukone) in his final days or is it just lack of match practice? Of course in India he doesnt have enough good sparring partners... If not for him there is nothing much to tak about Indian Badminton - just a brief glimmer here and there like Abhinn Shyam Guptas win against Roslin Hashim - and maybe a Chetan Anand or a Nikhil Kanetkar making it to the prequarters ... I think these guys need a Chinese Coach to make them more offensive and make a difference ! Anybody else have an opinion?
interesting that you mentioned them needing a Chinese coach. while i don't disagree with that comment. i do remember reading a comment by Prakash right after Gopi won the AE a couple of years ago. Prakash mentioned that the tradition of Indian badminton style lies with deception. they teach and ingrain deception from the start of training. that was apparent in the matches that Gopi won enroute to the AE crown. with the import of a Chinese coach, i wonder if that tradition would be lost? surely, perhaps the Chinese teaching may improve the results of the Indian player (or maybe not). but wouldn't that make the Indian player plays just like another Chinese? making the world badminton scene much more monotonous?
- Maybe certain aspects of chinese/Korean coaching may help esp the physical part. Deception is only good for a while, after players know one's style one must have other things to offer.Also deception in the indian sense may not be the same as deception China style as in Lin Dan or Kim Dong Moon of Korea. Maybe better to marry and combine partswhat's that they say about Japanese being innovative and "eclectic".
I spoke to the Indian players that took part in All England 1993 and they told me that they were trained by coaches from China then, I believed that Chinese coaches are in many parts of the world now, they are dominant figures in Europe as well
