Focus will be on doubles, says Arif

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD, APRIL 27. The focus will be on doubles during the National preparatory camp in Bangalore from May 1 to 22 for next month's World badminton championship in Spain, according to India's chief National coach, S.M. Arif.

Speaking to The Hindu a couple of days before leaving for the camp, the seasoned coach said the format for the championship was a very complicated and tiring one for the Indians.

``The team has to play singles and doubles in both men's and women's sections besides the mixed doubles,'' he said. ``This is one of the reasons we prefer to stress on doubles and we have almost identified the combinations for the mega event,'' he said.

Arif said the players called for the camp were All England champion Pullela Gopi Chand, Siddarth Jain, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Chetan Anand, Sachin Ratti and Srikanth Bakshi for singles and Vijaydeep Singh, Jaseel, Marcos, V. Diju and S. Thomas in doubles in the men's section and Aparna Popat, Manjusha Kanwar, Gutta Jwala, Shruthi Kurien, P.V.V. Lakshmi and Madhumita Bisht in the women's section. B.R. Meenakshi and Divya Ramesh will also attend the camp.

It is understood that the national selection committee would pick the teams next week. But Arif gave a fair indication that Chetan Anand may get the nod ahead of Sachin Ratti in view of his impressive performance in the domestic circuit.

He also made it clear that Gopi Chand would be focussing mainly on the open event as he would be bidding for the singles title. Going into specifics, Arif said Jaseel and Marcos and V. Diju and S. Thomas would be the doubles combinations in the World championship in men's section, while the two women's pairs would be Jwala and Shruthi Kurien and P.V.V. Lakshmi and Madhumita Bisht.

``Obviously, Jwala and Shruthi Kurien represent the youthful exuberance in the wake of their triumph in the Senior nationals, while Lakshmi and Madhumita combine experience,'' he said. Interestingly, Arif has very high opinion of Lakshmi, whom he rates as the best doubles player by virtue of her experience and strokes.

On the prospects in the championship, Arif hoped to improve upon the 16th position India got in the last edition. ``Realistically, we can't go far in this very tough event,'' he confessed. He said India was comparatively in an easier group with the other teams being Hong Kong, Austria and Wales. ``Of the three, I feel Hong Kong should be a tough opponent for the balance they have in both singles and doubles.''

Another interesting development is that while Arif and Sanjay Sharma will be accompanying the team as coaches, Ganguly Prasad, presently working with Gopi Chand in SAI Bangalore Centre, will only be taking care of the champion shuttler. On Gopi's chances, Arif said, the tag of All England champion should help him a lot.

``No doubt, he needs to work a little bit on defence but he is too good a player. I don't think these series of felicitations will in any way affect his preparations, for he has taken adequate care to be in touch with the game,'' he said.

Arif also felt Abhinn Shyam Gupta would be a tough opponent for anyone. He said Abhinn had the ability to tire out even the best of players with his amazing defensive play. ``Of late, he has shown great improvement in attack also,'' he added.

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