Pullela Gopichand

Last updated

Pullela Gopichand
Pullela Gopichand 2016 (cropped).jpg
Personal information
Country India
Born (1973-11-16) 16 November 1973 (age 51)
Nagandla, Andhra Pradesh, India
Height1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) [1]
Weight68 kg (150 lb)
Spouse
​
(m. 2002)​
HandednessRight
Men's Singles
Highest ranking5 [2]  (15 March 2001)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing Flag of India.svg  India
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1998 Kuala Lumpur Men's team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1998 Kuala Lumpur Men's singles
Asian Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2000 Jakarta Men's singles
BWF profile

Pullela Gopichand (born 16 November 1973) is an Indian former badminton player. Currently, he is the Chief National Coach for the India national badminton team. [3] He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, [4] becoming the second Indian to achieve this feat after Prakash Padukone. [5] [6] He runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy. [6] He received the Arjuna Award in 1999, the Khel Ratna Award (highest sporting honor in India) in 2001, the Dronacharya Award in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award – in 2014. [7] [8] He is the only Indian coach to win the "Honorable Mention" by the International Olympic Committee at the 2019 Coaches Lifetime Achievement Awards. [9]

Contents

Early life

Pullela Gopichand was born on 16 November 1973 near Chirala Town to Mr. Pullela Subash Chandra and Mrs. Pullela Subbaravamma, in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. [10] Initially, he was interested in playing cricket, but his elder brother encouraged him to take up badminton instead. [10] His family settled in Nizamabad for a while. He did his schooling in St. Paul's High School, Hyderabad. He joined A. V. College, Hyderabad and graduated in public administration. He was the captain of the Indian combined universities badminton team in 1990 and 1991.

Playing career

Pullela was mainly coached by S. M. Arif. He is also trained under Prakash Padukone, and Ganguly Prasad at the SAI Bangalore. [11] [12] Pullela won his first National Badminton Championship title in 1996, and went on to win the title five times in a row, until 2000. He won two gold medals and one silver medal at the Indian national games, 1998, held at Imphal. At the international level, he represented India in 3 Thomas Cup tournaments. In 1996, he won a gold in the SAARC badminton tournament at Vijayawada and defended his crown in the next games held at Colombo in 1997. At the 1998 Commonwealth Games, he won a silver in the team event and a bronze in men's singles.

In 1999, he won the Toulouse Open Championship in France and the Scottish Open Championship in Scotland. He also emerged as the winner at the Asian satellite tournament held at Hyderabad in the same year, and lost in the final match of the German Grand Prix Championship.

In 2001, he won the All England Open Badminton Championships at Birmingham. He defeated then world number one Peter Gade in the semi-finals before defeating Chen Hong of China to lift the trophy. [13] He became the second Indian to achieve the feat after Prakash Padukone, who won in 1980. [14]

Achievements

Asian Championships

Men's singles

YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2000 Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia Flag of Indonesia.svg Taufik Hidayat 4–15, 12–15 Med 3.png Bronze

Commonwealth Games

Men's singles

YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
1998 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Flag of Malaysia.svg Wong Choong Hann 1–15, 11–15 Med 3.png Bronze

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles

YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
1997 India Open Flag of Indonesia.svg Hariyanto Arbi 4–15, 7–15 [15] Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
1999 French Open Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Chen Gang 8–15, 15–10, 10–15 [16] Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
1999 German Open Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xia Xuanze 3–15, 15–13, 4–15 [17] Silver medal icon.svgRunner-up
2001 All England Open Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Chen Hong 15–12, 15–6 [18] Gold medal icon.svgWinner

IBF International

Men's singles

YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
1999 Le Volant d'Or de Toulouse Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Richard Vaughan 15–13, 14–15, 15–6 [19] Gold medal icon.svgWinner
1999 Scottish Open Flag of India.svg Siddharth Jain 15–7, 15–10 [20] Gold medal icon.svgWinner
1999 India International Flag of India.svg Ajit Wijetilek 15–6, 15–13 [21] Gold medal icon.svgWinner
2004 India Asian Satellite Flag of India.svg J. B. S. Vidyadhar 15–6, 15–1 [22] Gold medal icon.svgWinner

Coaching career

Pullela (left) and Kidambi Srikanth (middle) with the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Vijay Goel, c. 2017. Badminton Player Srikanth Kidambi along with Pullela Gopichand calling on the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (IC), Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Vijay Goel, in New Delhi.jpg
Pullela (left) and Kidambi Srikanth (middle) with the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Vijay Goel, c. 2017.

After retiring from his playing career, Pullela founded the Gopichand Badminton Academy in 2008 after reportedly mortgaging his own house. [23] Nimmagadda Prasad, a renowned industrialist, donated ₹50 million (equivalent to ₹170 millionorUS$2.0 million in 2023) on a condition that his academy win a medal for India at the Olympics in badminton. [24] The academy produced several badminton players including Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap, Srikanth Kidambi, Arundhati Pantawane, Gurusai Datt, and Arun Vishnu. [25] Saina Nehwal went on to win the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, while P. V. Sindhu went on to win the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, [26] the bronze medal at the pandemic-hit 2020 Summer Olympics, [27] and also became the first Indian to win the gold medal at the BWF World Championships. Pullela also served as the official Indian Olympic Badminton Team coach at the 2016 Rio Olympics held in Brazil. [23]

Contributions to Indian athletics

In 2003, Pullela started promoting running through a 10K run Foundation by arranging the annual run also conducting training programmes for budding athletes. To help some of the poorer athletes, he arranged weekly runs and giving cash prizes to participants. He tied up with National Athletics Coach Nagpuri Ramesh to train and mentor these budding athletes. He also tied up with the Mytrah Group, a renewable energy company and started the Gopichand-Mytrah Foundation. The foundation identifies talented athletes and trains them, along with providing them with accommodation, food and transportation. [28] [29]

The efforts have been successful with a number of their athletes earning national and international medals, like Deepthi Jeevanji (World record holder in the 400m T20 category), Nandini Agasara (Bronze medalist in the Heptathlon event of the 2022 Asian Games), Rangali Swathi, Kunja Rajitha (400m Gold Medalist in Indian Youth Games 2022). [30] [28]

Awards and honours

Pullela (left) is awarded the Padma Shri by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, c. 2005. The well-known Badminton player Shri Pullela Gopi Chand receives the Padma Shri award from the President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on March 28, 2005.jpg
Pullela (left) is awarded the Padma Shri by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, c. 2005.

Rewards for Coaching the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics silver medallist P. V. Sindhu

Personal life

Pullela married fellow badminton player P. V. V. Lakshmi on 5 June 2002. [36] They have two children, daughter Gayatri Gopichand, who is a women's doubles badminton player, and son Vishnu.

In Dec 2020, he launched guided meditation sessions for athletes named "Dhyana for Sports" in the App Dhyana. The sessions have been designed by him based on his experience training athletes. He is also the Director of Dhyana. [37] Dhyana, in collaboration with Heartfulness Institute, was the official meditation partner of the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) for Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. [38]

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References

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  7. 1 2 "LIST OF ARJUNA AWARD WINNERS". Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
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  12. ↑ "Still a crusader". The Tribune. 15 April 2001. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
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  15. ↑ "India Open 1997 (I): Draws: MS". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
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  27. ↑ "PV Sindhu won Bronze medal in Olympics, 2020, Tokyo". Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  28. 1 2 "Off the badminton court, Gopichand sparks an athletics revolution". Times of India. 7 July 2024. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  29. ↑ "Off the badminton court, Gopichand sparks an athletics revolutionGopi Chand project to help talented athletes". The Hindu. 2 February 2017. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
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  34. ↑ "National Sports Awards to be Presented on 31st August, 2013". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
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  37. ↑ Arora, Devesh (10 December 2020). "Dhyana app brings Pullela Gopichand as mental fitness trainer: Here's what you need to know". www.indiatvnews.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  38. ↑ Tewari, Saumya (21 July 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: Dhyana partners Heartfulness Institute for Indian contingent". mint. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
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