Need to develop more coaches: Gopichand

Mumbai : India's national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand expressed happiness at the performance of Indian shuttlers this year and said there was an urgent need to develop more coaches.

Talking to ANI, Gopichand said, "I think for infrastructure development and to ensure that more coaches are developed, it's important that the entire ecosystem be developed. So corporate, society and government's support is required to ensure that we produce a better ecosystem for the future of the sport."

When asked about the performance of the Indian players, particularly this year, Gopichand said, "To come out with a year like this and to say this that it is better than last year is something fantastic," adding, "the year has been great because not only the players in the women's singles performed so well, but also multiple players in the men's singles won super series."

He further said that Badminton in the country had reached at a stage, where more initiatives were needed.

"I am very happy with the overall performance this year. Well, I think that Badminton has reached a stage, where we need to have more initiatives come by," he said.

"Today, the sport has moved to another platform as we have many players taking up the sport in the country, especially the young ones," he added.

The coach also mentioned that in the last few years they had received good support from the Sports Authority of India (SAI).