PULLELA GOPICHAND: THE MAN WE KNOW THE STRUGGLE WE SHOULD

PULLELA GOPICHAND: THE MAN WE KNOW THE STRUGGLE WE SHOULD

As 6-7 years old child my first encounter with badminton was when I read about a man winning All England Badminton Championship for India. I remember his photographs in newspapers and TV channels, he wasn’t a glamorous fellow but was only the second Indian to win that championship. In the same year 2001, the Indian cricket team registered their historic test win at the Eden Gardens, and like many other boys of my generation I bought my first cricket bat, and forgot about Gopi Sir (as popularly called by trainees now). It was his fault though, he refused to advertise for a beverage giant just because it was not healthy for the young generation. Who knows he could have opened his academy a few years earlier. Interestingly his first love as a child was also cricket, but then a stadium was shut down and a mother sold her jewellery to buy a racquet for her son, rest is history today.

THE LEGACY BEGINS:

Born in 1973 at Nagandla, Prakasam district, in Andhra Pradesh to a banker and homemaker couple, Pullela Subash Chandra and Subbaravamma. Under the aegis of Syed Mohammed Arif, a recipient of Dronacharya and Padma Shri Award, Gopi started his badminton career. Eventually, Prakash Padukone enrolled the young champion into his academy, which was built in 1994 in the heart of vibrant Bengaluru. It was in 1996 that Gopi brought home his first big title, clinching the National Badminton Championship in 1996. He went on to win the title five times in a row, till 2000. Gopi sir always mentions how much he owes to the support of his family and to inspirations like Prakash Padukone and George Thomas.

FOLLOWING THE HEART:

Gopi sir can be easily described as someone who follows his heart and dreams, be it in the field of sports or be it his love life. He got married in 2002 to PVV Lakshmi, who is also a badminton player and represented India at the 1996 Olympics, now manages administration at the academy .

He announced his retirement in 2003 as a 30 year old to do what was left as a player. He opened the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in 2008. For this, he mortgaged his house and later found funding from Nimmagada Prasad, the well-known Hyderabad industrialist and sports patron. He still admits that the only thing they built the academy with was passion, it scares him now to even think about it. Nobody believed that the academy could prove to be a path breaker. But now he is glad that it worked, producing the likes of saina nehwal, p.v. sindhu, k. shrikanth, sai praneeth etc.

WE ONLY TALK ABOUT WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:

It is a trend today to talk about women empowerment on big stages in this country  ,a few of them deliver. In gopichand’s academy the girls led the way to win open, grand-prix and Olympic medals, their male counterparts followed their footsteps.  Gopichand credits his success to his mother and wife, for standing behind him in good and bad days.

AND IT CONTINUES: 

 Two recent pictures that tell us the about it:

1-Badminton world championship final 2017 women’s singles ; P.V.SINDHU Vs. NAOMI OKUHARA, one of the longest continuing matches in the history of badminton, but then we see Gopi sir shouting from the coach corner “jump and smash!!”,no matter she is an Olympic silver medallist.

2-A recent announcement tells us that Saina Nehwal , will return to her production factory and train with Gopi sir to regain her spot after return from the injury.

In short, we all can choose to keep complaining about the way things are or have been, or we can choose to strive forward to change the order the choice always remains ours.