My win is not good for Indian badminton: Gopi

LUCKNOW: Pullela Gopichand claimed thethird men''s singles title in the Syed Modi memorial badminton tournament, therichest contest in India for the shuttlers. This year the tournament waselevated to the international level, with players from Indonesia, Malaysia,Nepal and Bangladesh joining the Indians for a prize money of $ 20,000.Gopichand, who had won the tournament in the first two years, was figuring inthe men''s singles after a gap of four years following injuries. And in Lucknow,he faced off with India''s all top three singles players and got the better ofthem. Here is an excerpts of a quick interview with the Andhra Pradeshplayer:On his third title victory in Lucknow:The win wasgood for me but it is not a welcome sign for the Indian badminton.I know my physicalcondition. I am coming through injuries. My fitness level is not at a pointwhere I would have liked it to be. And still if I am able to beat top players ofIndia (Arvind Bhatt, Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand), and win a tournament, it isreally bad for the country''s badminton future.On his preparationsfor his victory in the Asian Satellite in Hyderabad recently:I hadworked very hard for that tournament. I was focussed and had aimed nothing lessthan the title there. And I won the crown there in front of my homefans.On his plans for the title win here in Lucknow:Ihad started to concentrate on the singles final right from the the semi-finalstriumph till the match started. Chetan (Anand) is a very talented player. Myplan was first to take a cozy lead. Then I wanted to draw him into rallies, slowdown the pace and try not to be much negative off his serves. I am very gladthat I could execute itperfectly. They are a talented lot. They need to be more focussed and workhard to acquire high degrees of consistency. I have made it to the world topten. So I know how much effort is required to break into the top league.No. I want to focus only on thesingles.I have decided to cut down the number of tournaments. I will play in selected tournaments after preparingwell.This is a special tournament for me. That is why whenever it ispossible for me, I come and take part in it. I can well imagine about the painand effort the organisers here take to make the players and officialscomfortable. Apart from this, the tournament carries a huge prize money. Yearafter year, it is getting better. I really praise the organisers for theirwonderful job.