There are still about eight tournaments left before the big event but players should not get sidetracked.
With the Olympic Games looming and the Race to Paris heating up, the focus of most top players is participate in more and more tournaments, win matches, earn ranking points and make the cut before the April 30 cutoff date.
Badminton and wrestling are the only two disciplines that have brought India medals in the last three Olympics with the former contributing one silver and two bronze. But chief national coach Pullela Gopichand believes the right way to approach the Games is not to focus on the Olympics but on the process.
“As a coach, it’s important that you keep pushing the players and expect more from them. Yes, we had a great 2023, had some very good wins whether it’s the World Championships or Asian Games. This year the big one is the Olympics. Hopefully, we can get a big contingent there and win some medals,” Gopichand said here on Tuesday.
“But Olympics is still a long way. There are still about eight tournaments left. I don’t think it’s right to go after that as a player. It’s too much pressure unnecessarily to start thinking about the Race to Paris as a primary role. It’s important to stick to the process. Points, rankings and qualification will take care of itself. That’s how I would want the players to look at it.”(HT)