AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NT Bureau
Chennai, July 3:

        Team coach Sanjeev Sachdeva hoped for Saina Nehwal to reach the distance in the Thailand Open badminton championship. On the eve of team's departure Sunday night, Sanjeev felt that the best bet from the likes of Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar, Arvind Bhat, Ajay Jayaram and P Kashyap will be to make it to the last four.

        Sanjeev said the 10-day camp at Hyderabad was profitable, the players fine-tuning areas like dribbling, the backhand clears and trying out variations in serve.

        National coach Pullela Gopi Chand, who inaugurated a Yonex showroom, shared his thoughts with the media. On a positive note he sounded of at least six players making it to the qualifying phase of next year's Olympics. 'There had to be more exposure for players in the 14-15 age group. Lot of work done at the grassroot level. It is a nice feeling to find players in the top 50 but the need is to break into the top 20.'

        Chetan raring to go Missing the Sudirman Cup and the Super Series is a thing of the past for Chetan. What disturbed him was the opportunity to better his ranking, perched at 35 now. 'I would have played in the main draw and a direct shot at the top-ranked opponents. I hope to do well at the Thailand Open, focused to get at the targeted 28 or near mark.'