HYDERABAD: As PV Sindhu becomes first Indian to win the World Badminton Championships gold, Pullela Gopichand, the man behind many of India’s badminton victories, finds himself in the spotlight again.
But the spotlight didn’t come easy to the coach. As a young shuttler, Gopichand struggled for basic amenities. His mother, Subbaravamma, chose to walk instead of riding the bus so she could afford to buy her son a shuttlecock. Facilities like gym, rehab, recovery after training eluded him. When Gopichand was injured he did not find proper injury management facilities. These very hardships led Gopichand to establish a world-class academy when he moved to coaching in 2004.
He was determined to ensure that players could have good facilities because he believed: “if you can provide them that they can be world beaters”.
Gopichand received a five-acre land from the state government after he won the All England title in 2001. With this land and money given to him by industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, Gopichand constructed an eight-court academy with all facilities.
Once the academy became operational in 2008, several young players including Saina Nehwal began to train under Gopichand.
The world-class academy went on to be nominated by the Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) as the Asian Training Centre.
In 2015, Gopichand constructed another academy that houses nine courts, 500 metres away from the existing one .
With the assistance of Kotak Mahindra, the coach is presently in the process of constructing an air-conditioned academy on the premises of the old academy.
The academy’s first big success story was Saina Nehwal, who won close to 20 international titles including the Olympic bronze in 2012. Sindhu broke into the international scene in 2013 with a World Championships bronze. In the men’s category, Parupalli Kashyap won big and Kidambi Srikanth took continued the winning spree when he became World No.1. Sai Praneeth, another player coached by Gopichand, created history recently, by winning the bronze at World Championship.
But the spotlight didn’t come easy to the coach. As a young shuttler, Gopichand struggled for basic amenities. His mother, Subbaravamma, chose to walk instead of riding the bus so she could afford to buy her son a shuttlecock. Facilities like gym, rehab, recovery after training eluded him. When Gopichand was injured he did not find proper injury management facilities. These very hardships led Gopichand to establish a world-class academy when he moved to coaching in 2004.
He was determined to ensure that players could have good facilities because he believed: “if you can provide them that they can be world beaters”.
Gopichand received a five-acre land from the state government after he won the All England title in 2001. With this land and money given to him by industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, Gopichand constructed an eight-court academy with all facilities.
Once the academy became operational in 2008, several young players including Saina Nehwal began to train under Gopichand.
The world-class academy went on to be nominated by the Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) as the Asian Training Centre.
In 2015, Gopichand constructed another academy that houses nine courts, 500 metres away from the existing one .
With the assistance of Kotak Mahindra, the coach is presently in the process of constructing an air-conditioned academy on the premises of the old academy.
The academy’s first big success story was Saina Nehwal, who won close to 20 international titles including the Olympic bronze in 2012. Sindhu broke into the international scene in 2013 with a World Championships bronze. In the men’s category, Parupalli Kashyap won big and Kidambi Srikanth took continued the winning spree when he became World No.1. Sai Praneeth, another player coached by Gopichand, created history recently, by winning the bronze at World Championship.
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