Jwala Gutta accuses coach Gopichand of ‘conflict of interest’

AFTER COMING BACK from stunning tour of Canadian Open, where she grabbed the prestigious title along with Ashwini Ponnappa, ace shuttler Jwala Gutta blames coach Pullela Gopichand for discouraging players and holding various office of profits.

Gutta said that she does not feel like being a part of Indian badminton family and blames coach P Gopichand for instilling culture in Badminton arena.

“After we landed with the Canada Open win under our belt, we weren’t even offered two words of encouragement by the Chief Coach. That’s absolutely discouraging.”Gutta said.

Gutta added that

“Being the only doubles pair, the kind of neglect that we have been subject to is unfair,”she said.

Gutta also blamed chief coach P Gopichand for holding various positions, a clear case of conflict of interest.

“He’s the chief coach, chief selector, Rangareddy District Badminton Association’s President, Secretary of the Telangana State Badminton Association, apart from running his own private academy, If this isn’t a clear case of conflict of interests, then what is?.”she added.

Gutta alleges that Gopichand has been doing this for years together, because no one has raised questions against him.

“I have been voicing this for the past 7 years, but in vain,”she adds.

Gutta, currently ranked 13th in the world and is the first-ever Indian woman to have won a medal at the world championships and the only Indian in the Indian history of Olympics to qualify for two events.
Both Gutta and Ashwini are potential medal winners at the Rio Olympics, but have been ruled out from “Target Olympic Scheme”- a govt scheme that supports prospective medal winners.

“We were very disheartened that we weren’t part of the government’s TOP (Target Olympic Podium) scheme, and that put pressure on us; made us feel like we have to prove ourselves again. That’s what we did in Canada.”