Andhra Pradesh: India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand won’t be at the courtside at the Tokyo Olympics after the former player opted out to make room for Indonesian Agus Dwi Santosa, who is B Sai Praneeth’s coach.
With an option of selecting only a five-member support staff group for the Badminton Association of India (BAI), Gopichand decided to opt out. Singles coach Park Tae-Sang and Dwi Santosa, along with doubles coach Mathias Boe and physios Evangline Baddam and Sumansh Sivalanka will be accompanying the players in Tokyo.
The Indian shuttlers at Tokyo Olympics are PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and men’s doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy. The five-member support staff was cleared by the Indian Olympic Association.
“With just one quota available, Gopichand decided to opt-out in order to accommodate Santosa, who has been training with Sai (Praneeth) since the pandemic,” BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania told PTI.
The four shuttlers had been training under the supervision of distinguished coaches. While Sindhu is at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium with Korean coach Tae Sang Park, Santoso has been working with Sai Praneeth.
Dane Mathias Boe had been appointed to coach the Chirag-Satwik duo, who would be making their Olympics debut. The BAI wrote to the IOA last month, proposing a seven-person support staff to accompany the players. However, due to strict COVID-19 protocols and a support staff quota of 33 per cent, only a five-member team could be cleared.
The number of officials allowed to travel to the Olympics could not exceed one-third of the number of athletes. The sports ministry, on the other hand, would allow for additional officials at no cost to the government.
