Saina Nehwal's decision to return home is nice: Coach Gopichand

Responding to Saina Nehwal's decision to train with him almost three years after their split, coach Pullela Gopichand dubbed it as "nice."

"She is India's top player and someone whom I have trained for 10 years. It's nice that she has decided to come back home," he told ANI.

This comes after Nehwal confirmed a return to the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

Tweeting her decision to move back "home" and train in Hyderabad, Saina said on Monday that she had been considering the idea for a while and decided to go ahead with it following a discussion with Gopichand, who is also the chief national coach.

"For a while I've been thinking about moving my training base back to the Gopichand academy and I had a discussion about this with Gopi sir. And I am really thankful to him for agreeing to help me again. At this stage in my career I think he can help me achieve my goals," announced the London Olympic medallist on Monday in a series of tweets.

The 27-year-old had left Gopichand's academy and moved to Bengaluru to train at the Prakash Padukone Academy under Vimal Kumar, with whom she attained the World No. 1 ranking and two World Championship medals before being laid low by injury ahead of the Rio Olympics last year.