New Delhi: Pullella Gopichand is not known for showing his emotions but the inspirational coach has shared the hurt he felt when his protege Saina Nehwal left his academy to join Prakash Padukone's facility, something that rankled him a lot. Gopichand also wondered to why the legendary Padukone, India's first badminton superstar "never had anything positive to say about him". In an upcoming book 'Dreams of a Billion: India and the Olympic Games', the former All-England champion and national head coach Gopichand spoke about the difficult times, also corroborated by Saina's husband and former CWG gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap.

Gopichand in the book's chapter titled 'Bitter Rivalry' revealed how miserable he felt when Saina decided to join Padukone's academy to train under Vimal Kumar in Bengaluru after 2014 World Championship. "It was as if something very dear was being taken away from me. Earlier, I had literally begged her (Saina) not to go. But by then she had been influenced by others and had already made up her mind. While I didn't want to hold her back and stall her progress, I knew this was something that wasn't beneficial for either of us," Gopichand revealed in the book co-written by sports historian Boria Majumdar and senior journalist Nalin Mehta.