Gopichand: I feel very very proud
After PV Sindhu’s silver-medal finish, a proud Pullela Gopichand expressed his happiness at the efforts put in by her to reach the podium in Rio. Gopichand also believes that the experience of Friday’s defeat against Carolina Marin will only help strengthen Sindhu for future battles.
Pullela Gopichand, who had tutored PV Sindhu from a 10-year old protege to Olympic greatness, has praised his student’s performances after winning the silver medal in the women’s Badminton singles on Friday. The coach was also quick to thank everyone who had supported them during their journey.
"I am very happy and grateful to God and very grateful to people who have supported this journey, who believed in us. It's a one in a lifetime or one in a million times or, for us, one in a billion times that somebody gets an opportunity to stand on that (medal) podium and for someone like me it was a part of the journey as well," he told PTI.
He also said that after the final defeat, he wanted Sindhu to feel happy that she had won a medal for the country rather feeling disappointed.Â
"Immediately after the game, I told her, don't think we have lost a match, but that we have won a medal. This I told her so that she doesn't forget the effort she put in the last week. It has done us all proud with the kind of effort she put in. We are happy and I wanted her to also feel the same way," he told.
After winning the first set, Sindhu looked in a good position to win the match, but Marin stormed through to win the second set and won the final set of the Gold-medal match with a difference of 6 match points. Speaking about the key moments of the match, Gopichand said, “She(Sindhu) made some simple errors and Marin took the momentum from there. She(Marin) was strong, she kept attacking. Sindhu had her chances. But at crucial time Marin played better.”
But the coach hoped that this will be a learning experience for the 21-year old, said that she will try to come stronger next time.
“She's not yet played in so many big tournaments and finals to actually make things happen. She's a strong athlete and will return stronger the next time,” he said.