Über das Forum » Davidson earlier in the week, its worth pausing to a

RIO DE JANEIRO -- In June, at the Australian Open Super series in Sydney, PV Sindhu lost her first round match to South Koreas Kim Hyo Min in straight games.Min was the 40th ranked player in the world. It was an insipid performance from Sindhu and came at the back of a year that had seen her produce a string of underwhelming results. Her win-loss ratio was 23-13. She was playing okay, but for Pullela Gopichand, okay has never been acceptable. Okay means average. Okay means mediocrity.?When she lost the first round at the Australian open we decided whatever happens we should give the Olympics our best shot, Gopichand says in his signature low-pitched, measured voice. And she responded.By itself, that is the kind of throwaway banal quote athletes and their coaches hurl in the direction of journalists working on tight deadlines. But when Gopichand says they decided to give the Olympics their best shot and that Sindhu responded, it implies a brutal training regimen in the two months before they would board a plane to Rio.Sindhu was asked to surrender her phone and give up eating all junk food. The coach and student woke up every morning before the first ray of sunlight, and trained. And trained. And then trained some more. And did it all over again the next day.While Gopi was chiseling Sindhu the badminton player, he was also working on Sindhu the 21-year old, who is, well...21.She as a person is an extrovert, very friendly, loves people will do anything for the people whom she likes, he says. And that is a challenge as a sportsperson because you want somebody to be really focused, put their head down but when you tell her something she will definitely do that. So she has these different personalities which you are definitely struggling with, she needs to find herself and when she does that she will be even better.All athletes have switches that only a select few around them know how to flip on. In the fascinating documentary Serena, a fly on the wall account of her incredible 2015 season that ended in a failed quest for the calendar Grand Slam, we get an illuminating look into the method of her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.Mouratoglou makes little notes on each of her opponents at the US Open and ends them with a comforting personal message. One of the most successful tennis players of all time needs to hear that voice as she heads into each match of this quest and Mouratoglou knows just what to say and how much to say. Serena tells us how Mouratoglou gets her and that they are so in tune with each other.Gopi first set eyes on Sindhu as a 10-year old back in 2005. She stood out among her peers. Her parents were volleyballers and Sindhu was genetically well served. At Gopis academy in Hyderabad, many wide-eyed kids with eager parents would train, keen to flower under the tutelage of man who had won the All-England championships.By 2010, having made a successful transition from top player to respected coach, Gopi was spending considerable amount of time with her on a daily basis. He had identified the qualities of a top level athlete but as a teacher, Gopi was torn.It is tough because you have to pick from among your kids and you need to pick one for special care, he explains. That is quite a sick job anyway.To believe that she could actually be the one who could put us on the international stage and take the sport up a notch higher and to give what is best to her so that neither she or I should feel that there was a talent which deserved more attention and I didnt give it to her.It did not take long for that talent to start making rapid strides. At 18, Sindhu won bronze at the World Championships in Guangzhou. No Indian womens singles player had done so earlier. A year later in Copenhagen, she stunningly produced an encore and remains to this day the only Indian to have won two World Championships medals.But despite those early incisions on the circuit, Sindhus career had not quite taken off. She circled around the top-10 in the rankings and won a few titles, but not even one among them is a Super Series, the elite level tournaments in the sport.Gopi smiles that Sindhu often wins matches he expects her to lose and then somehow goes down in matches he thinks she will win. Yet, fascinatingly, when she does suffer defeat, they engage in no post-mortem.What is important is that you ignore the mistakes and focus on the positives, he says. We hardly discuss the matches that she loses. She is someone I believe has a lot of ability in her game and the strokes she plays as well. Slowly we will see more of her as she gets more confident.While Sindhu was rising, another player in Gopis watch was already among the best in the world. In 2014, Saina Nehwal stomped off from the academy in Hyderabad. Gopi had nurtured Saina for ten years as she rose to the top of the world rankings.However, Sainas results had started to taper off and she felt she was not getting the individual attention she deserved as an elite player under Gopis watch. Their split created a media furore unlike any other witnessed in Indian badminton before. Even today, though his stoic demeanour gives little away, the wound from that episode is raw.I ask him if he is still hurt by that entire episode.?It is not a profession which is all good, it is quite stressful and unfortunately in our country we dont have systems in place that can set things right and show us a way forward, he says.We are very immature and hopefully it is time for all of us to sit together and build a system which ensures that people know what discipline is - players, coaches and administrators know what their responsibilities are and I think its important that all of us work towards ensuring that we dont go haphazardly based on hype and media and records to take decisions but based on systems and best policies.I prod a little more.?For a few seconds, Gopi munches over his response. He is a thoughtful man, not given to gusts of emotional outpouring. I have players who have the potential and I believe there is a lot they can achieve and I would focus on them.I think Saina is a great athlete. And what shes done for us, for badminton and for the country is fantastic and I hope she continues in the same way because to have two women gunning at the highest level is something we really love and possibly there will be a few more in the next few years.For now, though, the future - immediate or long term - is not on Gopis mind. He is exhausted.In Rio, two of his wards, Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, who gave a real fright to double Olympic champion Lin Dan before bowing out in the quarterfinals, have given him reason to sit on the plane back home a satisfied man.Now, he just wants to get back to Hyderabad to family and friends. He offers an emphatic Yes when I ask if watching Sindhu on the podium felt better than winning the All-England all those years ago.If I do it (coaching) then I better do it well, Gopi says. Thats the way I look at it. But it is a tough job, it is stressful and discriminative in a way. It is not always a job without tension. It is a lot of work physically and mentally and it is a lot of stress as well. But these moments, to be able to be part of a group that can give happiness and pride to the entire country that kept me going and hopefully we should have many more results like these which are very important.This medal was very important for all of us and the nation. To be part of this great journey is something I am very grateful about. Today, we have accomplished something, and hopefully we have the fire and the energy to continue doing something for 2020. Air Force 1 Mid Bianche . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. Air Force 1 Outlet Italia . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. http://www.airforce1outletitalia.it/scontate-air-force-1-alte-bianche.html . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. Air Force 1 Doernbecher . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Air Force 1 Mid Nere . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night. What went down in the eighth week of college soccer? The aim each week is to bring you five stories that defined the or help navigate the long road to San Jose, California, named this week as the replacement site of the College Cup.USC, Stanford and the weight of historyIf there was lingering doubt as to No. 7 USCs place in the national picture, consider it shed after Thursdays 3-0 win over No. 1 Stanford. Nine years after USC won the Pac-12s first national title, it recorded the programs first win against a top-ranked team. All the pieces are in place. With two goals against the Cardinal, Morgan Andrews now has 19 in 29 career games since arriving in Los Angeles from Notre Dame. And since conceding three goals in a season-opening loss to Santa Clara, USC has allowed just four in 12 games.But does the outcome cast doubt on Stanfords title hopes? The logical answer, and likely the best one considering the Cardinal played without starting goalkeeper and recent U.S. call-up Jane Campbell because of a prior red card, is that one result is no reason to worry. After a 3-2 overtime win at No. 10 UCLA on Sunday, and with the College Cup now in its backyard, Stanford still looks as good a bet to lift the trophy as any team.Except that if the Cardinal win it all, the loss at USC would make Stanford unique among champions.Look over the past 20 Division I championship seasons, a sample size of more than 500 games. There are just four instances in which the team that went on to win the title lost a game by more than one goal during its championship season (the last eventual champion to lose a game by even two goals was Notre Dame in 2010). None of those teams ever lost by as many as three goals and only one even conceded as many as three goals in a non-overtime loss. Can a champion lose like this? Sure, but it hasnt happened yet.Cals agony and ecstasyIt was a good week for USC. But No. 14 Cal made sure it wasnt a perfect week. And in the process, Cal turned its own slightly bitter beginning into a far more satisfying conclusion.Less than a minute from a win against UCLA on Thursday, Cal had to settle for 1-1 draw after a (very) late equalizer. The Bears, winners against the Bruins a season ago by a mind-blowing 7-0 score, would have registered back-to-back wins in the series for the first time ever. It also would have been the best resume win this season for the Bears in pursuit of postseason seeding.Fortunately, they only had to wait a couple of days to make up for the last part. This time it was Cal swiping the points when Abigail Kims goal in the 86th minute secured a 1-0 win against USC.Meanwhile, atop the Pac-12 ...For all the weeks jockeying between the Los Angeles and Bay Area schools, the Pac-12 lead is safe and secure several hundred miles away in Boulder, Colorado. After comfortable wins over Oregon and Oregon State, Colorado has taken all 15 possible points from its first five conference games.That leaves us in the curious position of seeing the leader of one of tthe two best conferences in the country unranked as the middle of October approaches.dddddddddddd.Colorado lost three of its first five games this season and has games remaining against teams that are a combined 20-7-3 in the league at the moment, so its fair enough for voters to maintain some skepticism.Still, whats happening in Boulder is impressive. Paced by transfers Danica Evans, who had a goal and two assists against Oregon State on Sunday, and Emily Bruder, who had a goal and an assist for the week, Colorado has proved a welcoming place for half a dozen players who began their college careers elsewhere.The master of the winThere was a lot of evidence this past week that it is hard to win in the ACC and harder still to win consistently. No. 20 Notre Dame earned a good win over No. 12 Clemson on Thursday. The reward? A 1-0 loss to No. 8 Virginia on Sunday. Boston College stunned No. 2 Florida State on Thursday and got to enjoy it for all of about a day before a 3-2 loss to Virginia Tech on Sunday. Speaking of the Seminoles, a draw at Syracuse on Sunday that was arguably more surprising than their Boston College loss means they went without a win in a week in which they played at least twice for just the second time in five years.Its a grind in the ACC.All of which is one more reason to marvel at 800 wins, the milestone North Carolinas Anson Dorrance reached with victories by his team over Miami and Wake Forest. The ACC is what it is, in part, because schools spent so many years trying to catch up to the Tar Heels. And while coaching milestones come and go, the context makes it different here. Dorrance reached 800 wins before any other coach reached 600 wins. Or there is this. Add up the wins for the coaches with the eighth and ninth most in Division I history and its still fewer than Dorrance.Daytons Alexis Kiehl goes for fourGoals are fickle creatures. Do all you can to make a field fertile for them and they may fail you all the same, as Dayton experienced in a 1-0 loss to VCU on Sunday. The Flyers outshot their opponent 19-5 and put 11 of those shots on frame, all to no avail.So when a player reaps a harvest like Daytons Alexis Kiehl did in scoring four successive goals at Davidson earlier in the week, its worth pausing to acknowledge the feat. After scoring twice in the first half, Kiehl scored two more goals in the span of a minute early in the second half, singlehandedly staking her team to a 4-0 lead in what turned out to be a 5-0 win.Daytons official record book doesnt include individual single-game marks, but with seven instances in which the team scored double-digit goals in a game, it is conceivable someone once scored five or more. A member of the sports information department suggested it might have been the first four-goal outburst since Missy Gregg around the turn of the century. That would be good company to keep. ' ' '