Hyderabad: Former Indian men's doubles player Leroy D'sa is optimistic of Indian men's doubles duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy doing well in the forthcoming Tokyo Olympic Games starting on July 23, while stating that "the difference between medal contenders is negligible" and those "who will hold themselves up on the big occasion will emerge victorious."
"Indian doubles team has a very good chance to return home with a medal. Chirag and Satwik have already made their presence felt at the world level. I hope they will rise above their potential in the Olympics. Now it is nearly a case of showing temperament and playing good badminton in the big event," D'sa told ETV Bharat.
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The men's duo of Chirag and Satwiksairaj, who is ranked 10th in the world, is the only doubles pair from India to have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics along with women's singles and men's singles specialists PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth.
Chirag and Satwiksairaj first came to the limelight in 2019 when they won BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament Thailand Open and reached the final of the French Open.
Mathias Boe can do wonders
The former player turned coach, D'sa, who trains budding shuttlers at PJ Hindu Gymkhana club in Mumbai, is of the opinion that retired Denmark doubles legend Mathias Boe's appointment by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) in January 2021 has allowed Chirag and Satwiksairaj an opportunity to learn and fine-tune their tactics before their maiden Olympics.
"Mathias Boe being a former international shuttler of very high calibre, his appointment is certainly a big advantage for the Indian duo before the Tokyo Games. His idea and knowledge of badminton will definitely help them," said D'sa, before adding that "his extraordinary ability to monitor the progress of a game and set strategy accordingly will enable the Indian doubles pair to fine-tune their game. They are young, they still have a lot of things to learn from him. For them, now, Boe is the right person to avail the knowledge of the nuances of the doubles. I am very confident that the Dane coach will really be able to do wonders to the Indian combination."
Pandemic beyond control of the players
Though the Indian shuttlers have been training at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad since May after the Badminton World Federation (BWF) cancelled all tournaments until the Olympics in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have had little opportunity to compete at home as BAI has also couldn't conduct domestic tournament owing to the deadly second wave of the pandemic.
Asked whether lack of competition will affect Indian shuttlers' form and tempo, the 67-year-old former four-time Asian Games bronze-winning shuttler said he doesn't think that will be an issue for Indian players as shuttlers from across the world are facing a similar situation.
"This pandemic and allied problems are beyond the control of the players. On thing they are doing now is following a training regime and they are doing things to keep themselves in best shape aiming for a good result. Whatever has happened in a year, it has been affecting all the players. I personally feel Indian players have mentaly and physically got themselves in the right situation and they shouldn't have a problem. It is all about throwing away the worries from your mind. If they are able to overcome that I don't think they will face any problem in Tokyo," asserted D'sa, who pursued a hat-trick of medals in 1982 Delhi Asiad and added the fourth to his trophy cabinet in Seoul in 1986.
Sanjaya, Marcus favourites
On being asked who is his favourite for the Tokyo 2020 gold medal, the Indian doubles legend of the 1980s has rated the World No. 1 Indonesian men's pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo as the strongest contender for the yellow metal.
"For me, the Indonesinan pair of Sanjaya and Marcus is the hot favourite for the gold. They are undoubtedly a very strong combination due to their consistency, and their game is technically perfect. Apart from them, LI Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China, Korean pair of Choi Sol-gyu and Seo Seungjae and the two Japanese pairs — Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda and Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe — are very strong. The battle will be among these Chinese, Korean and Japanese pairs for the gold medal," he said.
However, the Mumbaikar, who has recently been nominated for the Dhyanchand award by the BAI, feels the difference among these pairs is "negligible" and medallists will be those who will control their nerves better. Therefore, he doesn't want to rule the 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medal-winning Indian duo out of the medal contention.
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"Our Indian pair will have a tough time in Tokyo, but I am expecting a medal from them. You don't know what will happen on that big occasion. Anything can happen. Everything will depend on the given match day, it is all about how you apply your tactics and execute them. On the day the match takes place, that is when you are supposed to live up to your complete potential. If our players are able to do that then I don't think they will face any problem. In that case we can be very sure of a medal. The difference between these combinations is negligible. On the match day who are going to hold themselves up, they will emerge victorious," opined D'sa.
— By Sudipta Biswas
