Former world number one Saina Nehwal will be eager to get back to her glory days as she rejoined the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. The Indian shuttler moved to Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in 2014, but Saina decided to go back to her first major badminton school and train under new coach Mulyo Handoyo of Indonesia.
There is no doubt, Saina will benefit a lot from training under such a quality coach like Pullela Gopichand and Handoyo. The duo is expected to work hard and help her attain greater heights in world badminton.
Though world number 12 Saina might have moved to the academy in Hyderabad, there seems to be more than what meets the eye. The Indian shuttler, after the recently concluded World Championships in Glasgow, told coach Vimal Kumar about moving to Hyderabad for training. The coach also revealed that Saina was missing her parents and friends, hinting homesickness as one of the reasons for her latest shift of base.
Hence, moving to her hometown Hyderabad makes sense as well. One has to understand that the shuttler had been training in Bengaluru with Kumar, which might have made it difficult for her to visit her parents as and when she liked.
"Saina told me about moving after we came back from the Championships. She had messaged me after returning (from Glasgow) that she is nursing a slight hamstring injury and she wanted to give it a try for a week or 10 days (at the Gopichand Academy) which would also mean that she can also be with her parents and friends (back home). She was missing them all and I said you should give it a try and explore the possibilities," "FirstPost" quoted Kumar as saying.
Badminton fans in India will hope to see Saina play some amazing badminton as it was the Indian star, who carried the national flag before PV Sindhu had come into the picture. Now, both the Indian shuttlers will be training at Gopichand's academy, which could benefit India.
