In the men's section, the only match India lost was to Malaysia, the gold medal winners and in individual, the only match in the entire Games that Gopi lost was to the eventual gold medal winner, Wong Choon Hann of Malaysia. Frankly, I thought there was a chance that Gopi might beat Wong, because he did beat him last year at the Austraian Open and Gopi is now playing well. Clearly factors like playing in front of the home crowd, one year of lots of tournaments and then the controversy after Wong's inclusion in the last minute over a higher ranked player like Roslin Hashim had Wong all charged up. He was on a roll in the first game and before Gopi could realise it the first game was over. In the second game, the fight wasbetter, but it was tough to beat Wong that day. In the final, Wong beat the more fancied Yong Hock Kin and took the gold itself.

For Gopi, who has been battling injury and lost lot of time vis-a-vis matches, the bronze medal is not only a vindication oif his talent but should also boost his confidence.

Now, I want Gopi to go to Germany to play in the German league, "Bundesliga". This will not only help him get valuable match practice as many of Europe's leading players figure in the league but will also prepare him for busy seasons. That should help him make up for the time lost to due to injury.

As for Aparna Popat, I have said many times that she is extremely talented but she must learn not to give away points easily. She lost only to Kelly Morgan of Wales in the team event and then in the individual final, I feel she played the best badminton of her career so far. But too many times in the tournament, she allowed her rivals to go in big leads and then fought to catch up. That may be fine but sheshould not allow her opponents to get away in the early part of the match.

In the semi-final against Julia Mann, whom she had beaten in the team events, she was down to match-point and actually 3-10 down in the third game. It was good to come back and win the match. Julia Mann was not all that unbeatable, it is simply that Aparna seemed to have a lapse of concentration. In the final against Kelly Morgan, she fought so well in the first game.

Yet, all said and done, a silver in Commonwealth Games is something to be proud of. Aparna, who has even won the French Open title, should now build upon all this. She should cut out mistakes and then her opponents will find that she is indeed a world beater.

As for the other teams, England's defeat against India must have been a bit of a shock for many, but I felt we had more depth. Malaysia, of course, have done extremely well and the fact that they won the men's team title plus men's singles indicates they are far ahead of all others in the Commonwealth.

Nexton the agenda is the Asian Games. The Commonwealth Games have been good but the Asian Games will be tougher. The presence of Chinese, Koreans, Indonesians, Japan and Thailand will make the event a virtual World Championships since only the Europeans will be missing.

My heartiest congratulations to each and every member of the team. All of them played to their full potential and richly deserved the medals they won in the team event. Keept it up, boys and girls.