Shuttlers ramp up preparations ahead of the Games

B. Sai Praneeth, who will lead the men’s singles challenge in badminton at the Tokyo Olympics next month, and the men’s doubles pair of R. Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty, shifted base from the Gopi Chand Academy to the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here to train under their coaches Agus Dwi Santoso and Mathias Boe.

Gopi visits venue

Chief National coach P. Gopi Chand also got a first glimpse of champion shuttler P.V. Sindhu training at the indoor stadium today, after she moved over from his academy in February.

Sindhu claimed she had shifted here because she wanted to acclimatise by training in a bigger stadium where the conditions will be similar to the Games’ competition venue.

Sindhu has been training alone over the last four months with Korean coach Park Tae Sang and sparring partners from the Suchitra Academy, where she was doing fitness training under M. Srikanth Verma.

It was later indicated that this move was facilitated by the support staff, though it took more than three months for the other Tokyo-bound shuttlers to follow suit.

With the Olympics scheduled next month, the contingent is ready to step into the next zone of training to be strong medal contenders.

New flooring mat

A new flooring mat was laid adjacent to the court where Sindhu has been training, and as things stand it is not yet clear whether there will be mixed training sessions or not.

A stadium official also informed The Hindu that there was a suggestion by the players to switch on the AC so that they can train with the drift factor, which will again be a key issue when they compete at the Games.