Olympics 2012: Saina Nehwal’s medal huge for India, says Gopichand

Saina Nehwal’s victory was special in many ways for Indian badminton. The first ever shuttler from the country to have won a medal at the Olympics was an occasion to celebrate for the entire contingent. But Pullela Gopichand topped the celebrations with a generous flow of tears of happiness and thankfulness.

Gopichand used the big occasion to recall all the hard work that his pupil Saina has put in and the strict regimen that she had gone through in the last few years. He said that Saina’s victory will be an inspiration and will attract many more girls to the sport.

“It is a great victory and this is huge for Indian badminton. This was something that we all worked towards for so many years and I am happy that Saina won the medal here,” said the former All England champion minutes after Saina’s historic feat at the Wembley Arena.

Gopichand was completely convinced that Saina was surely going to pull off this match, had it continued further in spite of her losing the first game to world No 2 Xin Wang. “It was unfortunate that Wang had to retire. I feel that Saina would have won anyway if the match would have gone on. Saina was shocked when she lost the first game. Nevertheless a win is a win,” added the national coach.

Gopichand, too, suffered a knee injury during his playing days but then made a remarkable comeback to win the All England Open thereafter. He sympathised with Wang’s injury but then felt that the way Saina fought back from 6-14 down to make it 18-20 at one stage was remarkable and had looked like she is going to pull it off in the next two.

“Wang was a little tired and I think she pushed herself a little too much,” observed Gopichand, adding: “The Chinese shuttler was getting a little weary as the match progressed.”

Gopichand was not just thrilled by Saina’s bronze here but has also been thrilled by Parupalli Kashyap’s achievements here. He, too, like Saina, became the first ever male Indian shuttler to reach the quarterfinal stage before losing to top seed and eventual runners-up Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

“This is really huge for Indian badminton. It has been my dream for many years,” Gopichand said in a choked voice before moving on for more media interviews lined up after this historic feat.