The others badminton greats at the briefing were Malaysians Taufik Hidayat and Lee Chong Wei, China's Lin Dan and South Korean Lee Yong-dae. Gade said the power center of the game has consistently been Asia. "We have more different countries taking part from Asia and Europe, but I still see the power center as Asia. We have seen Carolina Marin from Spain and a few others. I have been working with the French team, trying to produce players, a few things are happening.

"Denmark and a few other European countries are also producing players at the highest level, but there is a lot of attention and resources available in Asia, and we still have a lot of work towards doing so in Europe to bring our badminton to the same level," added Gade, claiming that the current crop of men's singles players are highly competitive.

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"You have younger players, who are making an impact, like Srikanth and Danish Viktor Axelsen [the current men's singles world champion], so it's a very exciting period for men's singles," said Gade.

Hidayat hails his ex-coach Handoyo
Malaysian badminton great Taufik Hidayat yesterday hailed his former coach Mulyo Handoyo for contributing to the rise of India's singles brigade in the recent past. Handoyo is currently training India's singles players at the Gopichand academy in Hyderabad. "He [Mulyo] is like my friend, brother and father. I can share anything with him," said Hidayat, who won gold at the Athens Olympics.