After PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Satwik-Chirag move to Gachibowli stadium

Following Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu’s lead, Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth, and the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have moved their training base to the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad.

The four badminton players, who are set to represent India at the Tokyo Olympics, were based out of the Gopichand Badminton Academy, training under their respective coaches.

But with the Olympics nearing, the shuttlers chose to move to the stadium to get a feel and acclimatise to a bigger arena in their final phase of preparations. 

The Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, which has a capacity of 7,200, will be the venue for badminton at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, Telangana can seat 5,000.

While Sai Praneeth is training under Agus Dwi Santoso, the doubles duo are guided by the 2012 London Olympics silver medallist -- Mathias Boe.

Ever since moving out of the Gopichand academy in February, the reigning world champion, PV Sindhu, has been training at the Gachibowli stadium along with her coach Park Tae-sang.

The national chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand also recently visited the indoor stadium to get a glimpse of PV Sindhu’s training, according to the Sportstar.

While she heads to the Suchitra Academy -- a badminton institute in Hyderabad -- for her fitness training, the academy also provides PV Sindhu with sparring partners at the stadium.

Wherever we go out to play any major event we do so in bigger stadiums. If you want to compete against the best players you have to ensure that everything is perfect in training and build up to those events,” PV Sindhu recently said in a virtual press meet organised by the Sports Authority of India.

"There are a lot of facilities in Gachibowli where I’m training now. So, when we have a facility of international standard, why not use that.”

Talking about her preparations, the Olympic medallist reiterated that she was working on every aspect of her game despite the lack of game time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"For me, it’s always one step at a time. I have to focus and give my best. When I started off this year, it wasn’t too great for me because of the big gap due to lockdown. But I came back and rectified my mistakes,” PV Sindhu said.

“I played in England and improved on my game. Game-wise I feel I have improved. Attack is my strong point but I’m also focusing a lot on defence. I have to be prepared for all strokes. All in all, I’m looking forward to the Olympic Games.”