The badminton team from India is all set to leave for the Olympic capital. They reached New Delhi on the morning of Monday. The team is led by Saina Nehwal and the leader is confident that they will perform to bring back those shining medals home. The team consists of Saina, Ashwini Ponnappa, Jwala Gutta, Parupalli Kashyap and V. Diju. They will depart to London on Tuesday morning. The team has been coached by Pullela Gopichand.
Saina Nehwal led team arrives in Delhi enroute to London
In total, the members who represent India in the Olympics come to a number of 81 and most of those players have already reached the destination. The badminton team said that they wanted to stay longer in India because they wanted to practice. It is better and more adaptable to play with our own players whom we have been practicing with rather than go to London early and play with other international players said Ashwini. This would have not only had wasted ample amount of time but also wouldn’t have polished their skills. Ashwini will play doubles with Gutta.
Saina Nehwal is currently world number five and in high hopes of performing to high levels at the games. She agrees that the Chinese will be a difficult challenge to compete to but they are no new news. Saina has been mentally as well as physically prepared to dodge and attack their tactics.
Kashyap will play for the Men’s singles. He is currently world number 21. The mixed doubles will be played by Gutta and Diju. Gutta and Ashwini have both won medals in world class competitions last year and are big hopes for India to come back with more from the Olympics. Interviewing Gutta, she said that she had put in her mightiest efforts and practice into preparing for her game and is looking forward to get playing now!
It is said the Saina’s group, the pool she is in, is particularly easy for her. She should have little difficulty in overcoming those players. Saina will play at fourth position for the Olympics. There are sixteen groups in total and only the winners will go on to the next rounds. The doubles, on the other hand, has four groups and only the best two will qualify for further play.
Tags: Ashwini Ponnappa, Badminton, Jwala Gutta, London Olympics 2012, Olympics, Parupalli Kashyap, Pullela Gopichand, Saina, V Diju
