PV Sindhu's silver medal-winning performance at the Rio Olympics has only enhanced Pullela Gopichand's credibility as a coach and deservedly so because he has toiled as hard as his student
Rio Olympics silver-medallist PV Sindhu (right) and coach Pullela Gopichand take part in a parade after arriving in Hyderabad yesterday
PV Sindhu's silver medal-winning performance at the Rio Olympics has only enhanced Pullela Gopichand's credibility as a coach and deservedly so because he has toiled as hard as his student.
Having been his official biographer, I cannot claim to know him very well. In fact, barring his mother Subavaramma and wife Lakshmi, not many do.
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He is shy, soft-spoken and modest. I spent a lot of time with him while writing 'The world beneath his feat' and having been National coach, who not only trained and coached Gopi in numerous training camps between 2000 to 2003, but also travelled with him and other senior players as coach for many international events like the 2001 World Championships in Seville, 2002 All England and French Open and events like the Indonesian, Malaysian Opens.
Rio Olympics silver-medallist PV Sindhu (right) and coach Pullela Gopichand take part in a parade after arriving in Hyderabad yesterday. Pic/PTI
Gopi is a great follower of structured coaching. That's why he played under SM Arif for many years and then left to join Prakash Padukone's academy in Bangalore as it offered more facilities. But he was introduced to what is structured coaching much later.
Those years in Germany
It was during Glasgow World Championships in 1997 when he approached me to help him get an invitation to play in a German club in their famous Bundesliga. Gopi spent two hard years in Germany playing and benefitting from top physios, sports medicine experts and of course, measured coaching on top quality courts.
Gopi replicated all this in his academy and offered everything under one roof which has been of immense help to his students.
He always had this fierce determination to overcome all odds. Fellow player and international Asawari Pathwardhan recounts in my book that many boys suffered from prickly heat during a junior camp in the Delhi summer.
While others gave up, Gopi would do whatever the coach wanted him to do without any complaints. Taking off his shirt, he would play for hours without bothering about the discomfort. A maternal uncle called him Mr Casualty as he would always injure some part of his body, but continue playing.
Playing through pain
I've seen the sole of his right foot full of blisters and oozing with blood at the quarter-finals of the Seville World Championships. He got medical help on court, but did not entertain any suggestions of conceding the match. Shrugging off extreme pain, he continued and won. His knee operations caused him to be on a wheelchair, but he never stopped training.
Sindhu too was in wheelchair after an injury and Gopi made sure she was on court hitting hundreds of shuttles while being in a static position. As a player, he knew no fear. There were times when the coach/manager of the team booked him to fly back to India before the day of finals.
Losing, not an option
He says in the book, "I have come to play my best. Losing is not an option for me.
"If I am accepting defeat before then there is no point in coming for the event. Reputations in sport are of yesterday. Today is another day."
Sindhu once told me, "Gopi sir has taught us never to be in awe of an opponent and learn something from every game." Sindhu was fortunate to have him on the sidelines.
He is hard on his players, but when they need love and care, he'll be the first to provide that. When Kidambi Srikanth was in ICU, almost in a comatose state due to meningitis, Gopi was with his family daily, sharing their pain and helplessness.
Each of his student is a family member. Indian sport in general, badminton and of course Sindhu are indebted to him.
The writer is a former India player
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