A Brilliant Player and Coach

Sports have a bright future!

- Rishali Yadav

Pullela Gopichand, 43 year old, is a former Indian badminton player and now Chief National Coach for the Indian Badminton team. A name with whom no one else can compete, has made us all proud not only as a player but during his life’s second inning too. As a player he represented India thrice in Thomas Cup tournaments in Germany from 1997 to 1999, won two gold medals and silver at the Indian national games, held at Imphal, in 1998. He won a silver medal in the team event and a bronze in men's singles at the Commonwealth Games in 1998.

Continuing his success streak he further won the Toulouze open championship and the Scottish open championship in Scotland in 1999; along with the victory at the Asian satellite tournament, the same year. He reached the peak of his career in 2001 by winning one of the most prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships at Birmingham at the age of 27, beating then world’ No.1 Peter Gade and China’s Chen Hong in the semi-finals and finals.

During his carees he has won the Arjuna Award and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1999 and 2001, respectively for his contribution to the sports. Creating history as a player Gopichand has now created history by making two Olympics champions Sania and PV Sindhu after setting up the Gopichand Academy in 2008 with the idea that nothing can beat you if you have the determination in life. Struggling with several injuries and after facing a lot of difficulties in terms of adequate facilities for a player, he decided to set up this academy to eliminate the difficulties he faced.

Excerpts for an interview with the legendary player:

What would you like to say about this historic victory?