‘We are still far away from China,’ says badminton’s chief national coach Pullela Gopichand

Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand on Friday made it clear that India is still far away from being a dominant force such as China and said an overhaul of domestic structure and administration will be needed to become a badminton superpower.

“I think we are still far away from China. I don’t think it is a fair comparison. We have done well but I would want them to do well in World Championships, Olympics and All England, playing consistently and only then we can say those things,” said Gopichand.

“What we need to do is, when every country does well, it has its athletics going up and together they should also have the coaches and support staff going up, and also government structure and policy going up. Here, by just our sheer push of energy we have our players going up there but our coaches, support staff, managers they are not of the same level,” said the 2001 All England champion.

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