Gopi pleased with shuttlers' performance in this "tough" year

Chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand termed the year gone by as a "tough" one, but expressed satisfaction that the target to do well in major events was achieved.

"Overall it's been a tough year for us. We hardly had any time for preparation. Overall we had the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and World Championships- the big events," Gopichand told reporters on Wednesday.

"And whatever time we had was not enough to really work end-to-end on the mistake. But having said that we still have (Kidambi) Srikanth ranked high, (P V) Sindhu ranked high.

"We have had medals at the major events, whether it's the Asian Games, CWG or World Championships. So I am happy with the performances (of the shuttlers) and looking forward to the coming year," the chief national coach explained.

Gopichand was speaking after launching the 'Mumbai Games', which the organisers have claimed to be the world's first ever city-level franchise-based multi-sport, multi-age sports ...