Pullela Gopichand's simply the best!

If coaching one ward to an Olympic or World Championship medal is a fine achievement what would one call a coach who has trained a bunch of players to win a truckload of international medals and titles The very best probably Thats what Indias national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand isGopis students have won 200plus medalstitles and that is nothing short of mindblowing Before going into what makes the 2001 All England champion so successful as a coachcummentor let me give you an idea of his progress rate In 2011 when I was writing his book The World Beneath His Feat his Hyderabad academy students had won 30 titles abroad including smaller BWF Challenger and Satellite onesSaina at her bestSaina NehwalSaina Nehwal had a clutch of titles and Parupalli Kashyap was making waves as well But today Saina alone has won 45 medalstitles including medals at the Olympic and World ChampionshipPV Sindhu at just 24 has already won the coveted World Championship gold amongst her 43 medals and titles Kidambi Srikanth has 21 B Sai Praneeth and Kashyap have 12 and 15 respectivelyThis is besides the achievements of HS Prannoy the Verma brothers Sourabh and Sameer and others who have won at the junior level or tournaments in Iran Maldives Mauritius Vietnam France and ScotlandSo what makes Gopi tick and why is he so successful For answers we must understand a bit of his personality and thought processDuring our several interactions for the book he told me Failure is not an option for me I may lose my match today but will come back stronger tomorrow because I would have analysed my defeat There is a solution to each problem There was no reason to disbelieve himGopis selfbeliefHe was and is very big on selfbelief He also told me When I first faced the mighty Chinese Indonesians Koreans or Malaysians I was overwhelmed by their speed and power I realised that I was not prepared to battle them from a physically weaker position But if I trained harder I could be on par with themGetting fitter and stronger was no rocket science for Gopi You have to have that selfbelief he said adding later on as a coach I told my students not be afraid of any opponent and work hard hard and hardPV SindhuHis most significant and oftenused line to his students is If I could you canWhile he emphasises that quick thinking and analysis on court have no substitute he also works on different training and strokepractice regimes for different playersCustomised trainingHis programs are customised for top players Saina is not Sindhu either physically or mentally Saina is Saina and she has her own requirements Sindhu has her own requirements Its the same with Kidambi and Kashyap I have to approach them from different anglesWith this colossal success achieved almost singlehandedly it is not wrong to rate Gopi as the bestever coach in international badmintonSome pundits may argue that the mighty Li YongBo of China or the legendary Korean Park Joo Bong who coaches in Japan are better since their players won more titles and medals continuously Be that as it may the Indian scene was handicapped as far as infrastructure was concerned almost nonexistent when Gopi started coachingKidambi SrikanthThe super powers of the game had huge modern badminton halls and facilities while Gopi had his own will and selfbelief to followThe only structured academy functioning at that time was the Prakash Padukone one at the Karnataka Badminton Association courts where the great man taught Gopi the finer points of the game for a couple of yearsThe courts were made available to Gopi only for a few hours daily in Bangalore and he had seen much better systems abroad24x7 facilities in HyderabadFor his Hyderabad academy he wanted two things for which there would be no compromises mdash firstly the academy be made available to him 24x7 for all the days of the year and secondly every facility needed by students to learn and excel must be under one roof at the academyGopi contributed to Saina becoming World No 2 in 2009 within three to four years of coaching Li YongBo Park Joo Bong and a few others at that level had precedence to follow Gopi had none he did it on his ownEvery kid picking up a racquet believes that heshe can be SainaSindhu or a KidambiSai Praneeth They are all willing to work hard and develop that selfbelief on the way to glory said Sindhu at a recent media interaction Theres Gopi to thank for thisThey fear India nowIn my book Gopis biggest impact is about Indians being feared on the world stage like never beforeWhile the nation swoons over the achievements of Saina Sindhu Srikanth Sai Praneeth Kashyap Prannoy and others what would be an apt reward for this extraordinary man He has already been bestowed the Arjuna Award 1999 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna 2001 Padma Shri 2005 Dronacharya Award 2009 and Padma Bhushan 2014The criteria for the Bharat Ratna was changed to accommodate sportspersons and Sachin Tendulkar became first recipient from the sports arena The criteria simply reads Exceptional performance of highest order in any field of human endeavourGopi has achieved enough to deserve this highest honour And while we wait for his turn lets call him the Ratna of BharatThe writer is a former India playerCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereAlso download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates