P. Gopichand: Giving flight to Indian badminton

Pullela Gopichand with the victorious Indian badminton players after the 2010 Commonwealth Games (Getty Images)

Indian badminton has been the scene of quite a few highs in the last couple of years. In that time, we have seen a whole host of names rise to prominence.

The most recent of them is P.V. Sindhu, the lanky 18-year-old teenager from Hyderabad. But, of course, she is just the latest in the line of fine badminton talents to emerge from the conveyor belt of the Gopichand Badminton Academy.

Over the last few years, we have seen the likes of Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap and Sindhu burst onto the international scene and consistently compete at the major tournaments.

Much of India’s recent successes can be attributed to Pullela Gopichand. It all started with him.

Gopichand was India’s biggest badminton star to emerge, male or female, after Prakash Padukone. When he won the prestigious All England Championships in 2001, most of India’s current crop of young badminton players were still in school. Little did they realize then, that not only were they witnessing a great champion in action, but their coach to be in the near future.

In the world of sport, there are some that dazzle us with their achievements as a player. There are some others, who through their coaching make us stand up in admiration and render a polite round of applause. And, there are some who do both. Coach Gopichand happens to be one of those individuals to breathe that rarefied air.

Gopichand did not do it for the legacy or for the tributes that he hoped he would get well past his playing career. He did it because of his love for the sport. He did it because he wanted the next breed of shuttlers from India to be world beaters.

He was only 27 when he won the All-England title, yet he knew that he didn’t have many years left as he was struggling with injuries. All he wanted was for the next generation of Indian badminton players to have better coaching and world-class training facilities, so that one day, India too could have multiple players competing for honours at the highest level.

And that’s how Gopichand became ‘Coach Gopichand’. He got to work with building the academy after he received 5 acres of land in the Gachibowli area for this project from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2003.

He approached Yonex for sponsorship and also tried his best to rope in foreign coaches into the mould. Nimmagadda Prasad, a relative of his, contributed about $500,000 initially and assisted in raising the rest of the money.

A total of $2 million was the expected amount needed. But, only $1.75 million could be raised.

Sportsmen and women are often accused of not laying it all out, not giving it their all. Gopichand gave it everything and then some more. Knowing that his dreams of a world class badminton facility in India hung in the balance, he decided to mortgage his family home to try and make up the remainder of the funds necessary to complete the project. Eventually, the academy was completed in 2008 at a cost of $2.5 million.

It started with 60 trainees in 2008 and has seen a five-fold increase in its intake since then to more than 250 now with countless others on the waiting list. It is one of Badminton Asia Confederation’s very few Asia Training Centres. The others are in China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

At the academy, Gopichand helps to coach and motivate the players, as well as manage their individual strengths and weaknesses. A key part of his work is to counsel the parents regarding their wards’ progress, as more and more people see badminton as a sport that they are willing to allow their children to try. And they like to constantly be appraised of the situation involving their son or daughter.

“In the 1980s and 1990s the perception and awareness of the game was not much,” Gopichand had said in an interview with Business Standard last year.

During that interview, Gopichand shed light on some of the difficulties that he and his peers faced growing up as a badminton player.

A victorious Pullela Gopichand with the trophy after winning the Mens Singles title at the 2011 Yonex All England Championships in Birmingham. (Getty Images)

“Finding a good coach, a good sparring partner and good shuttles was very difficult.” said Gopichand, as he attempted to compare the times.

The hard times manifested in his deep-seated resolve to ensure that the coming generation had no such obstacles in their way.

The results from all of these efforts put in by Gopichand and crew are there for everyone to see. Saina Nehwal was first out of the line, when she emerged as a talented youngster. She took the world by storm when she became the first Indian girl to win the BWF World Junior Championship in 2008.

11 major titles, a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2010, an Asian Championships bronze in the same year and an Olympic bronze in London in 2012 have since followed. Delighted would be an understatement to describe Gopichand’s feelings after Saina’s momentous bronze at the Olympics last year.

“This is really huge for Indian badminton. It has been my dream for many years,” Gopichand said in a choked voice before moving on for more media interviews lined up after that historic feat.

She has not managed to yet attain that No.1 ranking (though, she did reach as high as No.2 in 2010), but she has been a regular in the top 5 in the world over the last 3 years – no mean achievement. She is one of the few players who looks equipped to break China’s hegemony at the top of the women’s game.

After having been somewhat of a lone ranger for India for much of the last five years, she now has company as the likes of Parupalli Kashyap, Sindhu, Ashwini Ponnappa, Sai Praneeth, Gurusai Dutt and K.Srikanth have all come through the ranks, making rapid strides.

Together with Sindhu, the duo will look to join forces and launch a combined assault on that coveted top ranking in women’s badminton.

The men’s field is also suddenly teeming with talent. Gone are the days when you would find one Indian male player in the top 50. The pool of talent is brimming now with the likes of Kashyap, Dutt, H.S. Prannoy, Sai Praneeth and Srikanth.

Gurusai Dutt is a talented youngster from the academy who has been on a pretty good run. He has had a good set of results this year and has managed to reach the 20^th spot in the world rankings. We will get to see a lot of him in the Indian Badminton League. Much the same case with Praneeth and Srikanth.

Who knows, soon we could have 2 top 10 men’s players in addition to the women.

Physical fitness is one area where Indian sportspersons have always come under the scanner. They have often been accused of not being able to go the distance. Knowing fully well it’s importance, this is one aspect where the academy does not compromise. H S Prannoy, another of India’s young prospects, spoke about the special emphasis that the academy places and the effect that it has had on him and some of the other players.

“Our players used to lose matches due to a lack of physical fitness,” said Prannoy, a Youth Olympics silver medallist.

“The trend is changing. I have improved a lot since I joined the academy three years back. During my training for the Youth Olympics, Gopi bhaiyya played with me for a month, which gave me strength and confidence. He stays at the Academy from early morning till evening, and you can approach him any time for tips or feedback.” he went on to add.

Physical training, constant feedback, mentoring, skill development, player education and of course, a whole host of other coaching drills is what Gopichand and his team at the academy put their trainees through as they attempt to provide a holistic training program to these aspiring shuttlers.

The parents of PV Sindhu, who became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the World Badminton Championships, had little doubt as to where the secret of their daughter’s success lay; they dedicated the 18-year-old’s achievement to chief national coach Pullela Gopichand.

Speaking to the other players too would elicit a similar sort of response.

P. Gopichand receiving the Dronacharya Award from then President Pratibha Patil in 2009 (Getty Images)

Gopichand was presented the Arjuna award in 1999, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2001, the Padma Shri in2005. As a coach he was presented with the prestigious Dronacharya award in 2009, for his efforts in building up the scale and quality of Indian badminton.

He is called Coach by some and Guru by some others. But, as far as Indian badminton is concerned, he is the Dronacharya that has helped spawn this new golden era for Indian badminton.

The players themselves have shown the right attitude to training and development and have responded well to the coaching and support that they have received, which has translated in their careers reaching new heights. Their effort and commitment is not to be brushed aside lightly.

But ‘Coach Gopichand’ has been the shepherd, overseeing the progress of this lot every step of the way, nudging them in the right direction as they went about making the long arduous journey to the top of their games.

Gopichang along with the players that he has helped raise, have not just made the game popular; they have made it a sport that is now aspirational.