Srikanth's win over Lee Chong Wei was a great match : Pullela Gopichand

The 2015 Indian Open Champion had a mixed 2015 season, which saw him registering an upset victory over Lin Dan but also four first round exits. Speaking about Srikanth’s victory over former World No.1 Lee Chong Wei, Gopichand attributed the success of the Guntur lad to his aggression.

"I think it was a great match. Srikanth was fired up and aggressive but I think it is important that he has to be consistent. In the life of a sports person, I think a win is not the end of it or a loss is the end of it. So I think he just needs to get this head down and fight," Gopichand said, reported PTI.

"I think the pressure here is far more because of the format, as there are a lot of people who are passionate, the coach, the owners and the money which is paid. So it makes it a lot of pressure and it is helpful to players," he added.

With the 2016 Rio Olympics just months away, the former All England champion wants to take it step-by-step with many big tournaments in the way before the Olympics.

"I think it is a little premature to talk about Olympics at this point because the Olympic qualification is still on. There are quite a few big events and each player will go about preparing for those in a way as if that is the Olympics. Whether it is India Super Series, Asian Championship, All England. So they will really go after these tournaments.

"I have to ensure that they have the best progression for the Olympics," he said, reported PTI.

When asked about the rise of Carolina Marin and Saina Nehwal to the top of the badminton rankings and the decline of Chinese women players' domination, Gopichand said the Chinese will find it difficult to regain that dominance as many players with varied styles have become stronger.

"Whatever the Chinese have done have not worked and a lot of players have figured them out. So they have not been able to get a comprehensive strategy for everybody. Earlier, they used to win on fitness but now others have also become fitter and stronger.

"It won't be easy to crack them because they are very diverse, one is from Japan, one from India, one from Spain so there are different styles. So they will find it difficult," he said, reported PTI.