EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW OF PULLELA GOPICHAND ON CNN-NEWS18

(MEHA)

Where the history of Indian Badminton is written, his name will be inscribed in golden letters. Under his tutelage, there are 7 Indian players in the top 20, including the men's doubles and Pullela Gopichand is far from being done. I am sitting here, he is a legend and thank you so much Gopi for taking out the time to talk to us and congratulations on that brilliant performance at the Commonwealth Games by your team. You had a lot to do with that. Now, while we all woke up early in the morning to watch the dream final between Saina and Sindhu, I kept looking out for you on the screen and you weren't there. What were you doing?

(GOPICHAND)

Well, for many of us maybe it was a dream final, for me also it was a dream final but the result didn't matter for me. It was great, actually, to be assured that the Gold and Silver are both our's and that's a great feeling to have. Very rarely in Badminton at the highest level you get this kind of an occasion where on the final day you're sitting happy. That no matter what happens, we are going to be winners. So, that's the way I was. I was out, I didn't watch much of the match not because of anything, but there was not much of interest in it. I was preparing for the next matches which was Srikanth and then the doubles final and those matches.

(MEHA)

You know I was talking to Kashyap after that final and he said it's impossible Gopi sir was not watching. Gopi Bhaiya would have been sitting somewhere and he must be jotting down all the errors and everything that was being done wrong or right for the future. Was that something that you did atleast for the couple of points that you watched?

(GOPICHAND)

We all watched the last four or five points because the next match and the prize distribution was important. We wanted to see both the flags go up and for that reason, we and the support team watched the last, I think about 17-19 in the second game is when I started to watch. But of course, I have watched, I've spoken to the players post the match to write down the notes of the match. But during that time,  I think one it wasn't of great interest and second, at that moment when I had two other matches to focus on, I would have rather watched this later than then.

(MEHA)

Let's talk about the playing days then, Gopi. For someone who was sent to a stadium nearby, as I heard in one of your interviews by your mother to avoid heatstroke and avoid breaking window panes beacause that's what you did, you played cricket at one point, it's been quite a journey for you. From there to becoming a national champion five times in a row to of course, the prestigious All England Championship, talk about your journey with us. 

(GOPICHAND)

It seems like it has been ages ago. Well, I never knew, never thought, that we could go this far. Today, world Badminton, you can aspire, you can think of. But back then when I started, we especially in Hyderabad didn't even have a national champion then. So for us to dream of a national champion was a big thing and for us to dream of a career in sports and playing international was something else. Never knew it would go this far. Took one step when I won the state, I said "wow nationals looks possible" and I went on to win the nationals. Then I went for my first international, I said, "maybe this is possible with a little more push" and then when I started playing, I said "maybe top-10 is possible." And when I started pushing a little further, the All England was possible or the big tournaments were possible. And when I finished playing, I realized, okay for the youngsters it's more possible than it was with me. So, I think things went pretty quickly in a way.

(MEHA)

So you won the All England Championship and you'd obviously been dominating on the Indian circuit. At what point did Gopi the player want to become Gopi the coach? How did the transformation happen with you?

(GOPICHAND)

Well, my life has been all about Badminton. From 1985, when I was about eleven years old, I only played sports, I never knew anything beyond. For me, my life was centred around only sport. When I finished, not that I wanted to finish, I had injuries and I had about 4 surgeries on my knees. I couldn't play as the way I wanted, so I would still go to the stadium and if my knee was hurting, I would coach and if it wasn't hurting, I would play. Slowly, it just was a transformation which happened, almost seamlessly because I went to the stadium and every day I would check myself whether the body was ok. If it was, I would play, if it wasn't I would coach. That's how it happened. What prompted me to push further was the fact that as time went,  I realized why was I wasting time on my practice when the juniors could do better and my contribution to them  would be better than me myself playing. So that happened and I said okay, "forget it." Maybe I can try but I may not reach the world levels which I wanted to and maybe these youngsters can do it better than I can do it. So that's how I did the final push of stopping playing and doing coaching.

(MEHA)

So, 2004 is when the coaching began? And you had a very talented bunch of kids because I was reading about how that was the first group that had Saina and Sindhu, Sindhu being the youngest then. First of all, how did you unearth and spot these talented kids and what was the process that went into it and how were you putting this whole thing together? You didn't have an academy then, how did it all start for you?

(GOPICHAND)

We started off coaching in 2003. I took all these kids to a summer camp.

(MEHA)

And you just picked up all these kids who are now champions? Who all were there?

(GOPICHAND)

Yeah, we just picked and not that these were special kids or something. There was like Kashyap was the oldest of the lot. Sindhu, there was Sai Praneeth, Gurusai Dutt, there is Sikki Reddy, Sumeeth Reddy. And these were not kids who were brought from some other place or something. They were just playing in the stadium with and I just picked all of them and we did a camp for about 40 odd days in 2003. Then in 2004, I started coaching in a government stadium in Gachibowli. The stadium wasn't ready. I wasn't ready. There were no funds, no shuttles nothing. But I just jumped in. Everyday seemed like a challenge and everyday seemed very new for me because the enthusiasm was there but the challenges were many. Funding, infrastructure, people, big challenges. People won't accept me coaching in that sense. Friends, some of them said, "why do you want to get into dirty job? You have to slog yourself. You'll never get anything out of it. Why don't you be a commentator, critic, administrator?" Lot of options which they said but somehow my heart was into coaching and all of the challenges which were there outside on the periphery, whether it's getting the stadium or getting the shuttles or getting the coaches, all of it seemed to go away when I got on the court and started to coach because that's where my true pleasure was. Within no time, one year two years down the line, Saina started doing well. Kashyap started doing well. And then the bunch of kids started challenging at the sub-junior and junior levels. For me, they became my world and their victories gave me the most happiness and satisfaction. So, it just went on and it didn't have to bother about the other difficulties which I had because the pleasure I got out of these kids winning would surpass all of the challenges which I had.

(MEHA)

But Gopi, it must have been difficult. I mean, we are talking about 2003-2004, where was the funding coming from? How were you managing to make sure that these kids get the kind of facilities because they obviously seemed to have done so well. They are all doing well now internationally, but what kept you going? There as an interview where you talked about how you had to mortgage your house to make the academy. Was it just for these kids? What kept you going?

(GOPICHAND)

I wouldn't say it was for these kids, I think it was for myself. The kind of pleasure I got out of these kids winning was something fantastic, which I really loved. And also the fact that I always have grown up listening to people telling how Indians are not good enough and how we may not be the best Badminton players ever. For me the challenge was to prove that what I believed was that Indians are good at this sport. For me, to win was important. For kids to win big in the  big international tournaments was important. When I look back today. it's really crazy because the kind of things I have done is been unbelievable. I would train-coach for 5-6 hours in the morning then go run around corporate to hear a no from most of them and then go back and coach again in the evening. We organized tournaments. I don't know how much money out of my pockets I have spent. We never had any accounts. We never had people managing any of it and for years, it went on like this. And, it sounds strange, but the kind of happiness I got out of it, I don't think I would have got out of anything else. I did a lot for that pleasure of my kids winning. The challenge of proving that it is possible to be the best in the world and those things looked very possible and those challenges kept coming and the moment you kept surpassing them, you actually had a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the future. 

(MEHA)

So Saina broke through first and it became Saina vs China, I remember. What was it like for you when she won the Bronze at the Olympics. Did you then feel vindicated? Did you feel all that you had done and sort of proved everybody wrong that "here I am, I can give champions"?

(GOPICHAND)

For long for us in our country, we somehow believed that Chinese, Indonesians, Malaysians are better equipped, better born to be Badminton players and we Indian physiques aren't, which I for a long time said no and that we are genetically built for the sport. The other challenge was women because the thing was we had players in the past, whether it's Suresh Goel or Nandu Natekar or Dinesh Khanna or Prakash sir. We had men's champions and men winning, but we never had women score at the highest level. So, the thought which was put into all of us that Indian women are not strong enough. So it was kind of these thinking’s which I  wanted to break and somehow when Saina won big, that is when people acknowledged that fact. So I went to corporate with a brochure. I remember saying one day we will win an Olympic medal and that was the goal when we started the academy. People said Gopi must be joking, tell me something else. That's how things were. When I won the Olympics, I remember  actually thinking I'll stop coaching because this is all I wanted. It meant so much at that point of time. The brochure of the academy also says to win an Olympic medal. It didn't mention which medal.  So, I said I'm done and the academy's job is done. That's our goal and we are done with it. When each challenge you overcome, you realize that there are more goals ahead and then you keep pushing. But for me, 2008 Olympics quarter-finals of Saina was very important because Badminton came into limelight and it does come into the limelight only at the Games normally, whether it's the Olympics or the Asian Games. So people in 2006 and seven knew that Indian women Badminton was good but the spotlight on Saina at the Olympics made sure that Indian Badminton got into focus. And then 2010 Commonwealth Games was a good platform to establish that fact and 2012 was important as well.

(MEHA)

There is a lot of talk about your relationship with Saina. Parted ways, she has come back now. She's training with you and she looks hungrier than ever. She has just won a Bronze at the Asian Championship. What is your relationship like with her right now because I spoke to her in an interview and I asked her, this is before the Badminton League had started. She said, "I don't know what people around us wonder what our relationship is. Our relationship is very normal. I talk to him like I have done all these years, there is no change. I asked him I wanted to come back to the academy. He said you're welcome please do come and that's where it ended. I think people are making it up. We don't have any issues." She said she has even seen players sometimes wonder, "oh they are together now. What will they talk? What will they say?" She says we talk like normal people.

(GOPICHAND)

I have known her, I have seen her, I have trained her for over 10 years before she decided to train elsewhere. Well, it hurt but it was okay because I had other work. Probably at that time, I needed that challenge as well. But, for us, for me, she is the same kid who I have seen years ago and I'll be happy to help her out whenever and yes I know I may not be able to do everything all the time for all the people, but Saina is special. She has brought us laurels and I believe that she has the potential to do even better. I haven't seen an athlete who has so much of drive like Saina. So, I think it's great to have somebody like that because the belief itself can take you a long way. We needed that belief in 2004 to crack the barrier. Today, I think she can do even better and age wise also, she can break those barriers because if somebody can do it, Saina can do it.

(MEHA)

While Saina was doing well. we suddenly had this tall lanky girl who was also capturing the imagination of this country. Sindhu came on the international circuit and of course she came in much earlier when she went into top-20 at the age of 17. Went ahead and won a medal at the World Championship. At what point, while you were coaching her, did you feel she is meant for greatness? That she is going to be able to do well. Was it her physical ability? Was it the mental strength? What stood out about Sindhu?

(GOPICHAND)

Well, I remember on my journey back from the Asian Games in China, Guangzhou in 2010, on the way back from the airport and I called Sindhu and said, "Sindhu we need to start tomorrow at 4 in the morning." And she said okay. I remember that, around that time when she was 15 years old, when she barely managed to win the sub-junior nationals. I somehow believed I wasn't able to give her the time she needed and I was starting at 5:30 in the morning already. So, I didn't have any option. So I had to bring her in early at 4 in the morning . I believed that she was good. She had the physicality to play the world's top players and she needed work on movement, on strokes and stuff. But  really I trusted her and for me, that trust was vindicated by the fact when we played in 2012, we played China Open. She beat Li Xuerui because one needs to have ability but one needs to deliver it at the biggest stage and to actually not falter at the highest level. She was shaky, she was shivering but she delivered that moment and she beat the Olympic champion. So that for me was a testimony to the fact that if things go right, she is somebody who will not falter at the highest stage and she has actually kept the trust which I had in her because whenever we have gone for world championships, Asian championship or an Olympics and whenever we have trained hard, she has always delivered.

(MEHA)

How do you deal with the Saina-Sindhu rivalry?

(GOPICHAND)

It's great. It's great to have that rivalry because it keeps both of them on their toes. It's a challenge for me, it makes my life difficult. I think both are strong individuals. Saina is a bit introvert. Sindhu makes friends superbly. Both of them gems at training. They are super. They will keeping pushing you. So you have to have a lot of energy to train both of them. But at the end of the day, where it matters, they deliver. That is important because you don't want players who will crack at the last moment. We might have matches where they are inconsistent but I think at the end of the day, if they have trained, they will go out there in the big match and be playing those strokes which you have taught them and that is very important. 

(MEHA)

What is the difference in their game?

(GOPICHAND)

Both very physically strong.  Both have a big smash. Sindhu is a runner, Saina is more attacking. Sindhu also attacks but both have very similar games in a lot of ways and both will get back a lot more shuttles than many many people in the world.

(MEHA)

When you look at the academy now, and it's been 15 years since you started coaching and you're giving us these champions every second day. Now when you look at the academy, Gopi. what are you most proud of about the academy?

(GOPICHAND)

Well I never get chances to recollect and think about it. But for me, I think, the most important thing is years ago when I went, when I was growing up, a lot people would say we can't win big at the world level and when I started coaching, they said good players can't be good coaches. And when I started coaching and kids started winning, they said only one the fact that we are producing so many is what makes me the proudest. Just one fact that we can do even better and if one academy can do so much, if more such centres come across the country, I think we will do so much better.

(MEHA)

Pullela Gopichand, thank you so much for talking to us and we wish you all the best for your future endeavours. Thank you.