‘Lucky I wasn’t good at studies’: When Gopichand failed engineering exam, he continued with sports

August 31, 2016

New Delhi, Aug 31: Chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, who guided Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to Olympic medals in the successive Games, says he was lucky that he wasn't good in studies and it was a flunked IIT exam that paved his way to be a successful sportsperson.

Gopichand

"My brother and I both played sports. He was fantastic in sports and now I feel that I was lucky I wasn't good in studies," Gopichand said while discussing how sports requires commitment from both parents and sacrifices, and sometimes luck also plays a part.

"He was a state champion. He wrote his IIT exam and passed. He went to IIT and stopped playing. I wrote the engineering exam and failed and I continued in sports and this is where I stand now. I think you have to be focused and even lucky sometimes," the 42-year-old said.

Gopichand went on to become only the second Indian to win the All England title in 2001 and soon after he retired and decided to open his own academy.

The journey to set up the academy was not an easy one as he faced many rejections when he went to ask for help from different quarters to arrange the finance.

Talking about one such incident, Gopichand said: "I remember having gone to a cetain PSU few years back. I was made to wait for three continuous days outside the room when they promised me support for badminton but after waiting from 9 in the morning to 5:30 in the evening after three days, a certain officer at a high position came up to me and said that badminton doesn't have the eyeballs to be a world sport.

"That was the last day I had gone ahead and asked anybody for sponsorship. The same night I went back home and thanks to my parents and wife, we mortgaged our house and that is how the academy came up," Gopichand said in a felicitation ceremony by IIFCL in Delhi on Tuesday.

In the last 12 years since setting up his academy in Hyderabad, Gopichand produced two Olympic medallist and he said he never thought his dream to see India win an Olympic medal in badminton would come true so soon.

"I started the academy in 2004 with 25 young kids. Sindhu was one of my youngest kid at about eight years and P Kashyap was the oldest at 15. When I started coaching I had this dream that India would win an Olympic medal someday. I didn't know that we could so soon in 2012 win our first medal," he said.

"I think maybe I should retire now because my goals were all finished and done with," he said on a lighter note.

Gopichand said though he was treated badly by some people, he was also thankful to the good souls who have always been there to supported him.

"We have people in the ministry who have been ridiculous in their way of treating us but we also have some great souls who have supported us," he said.

"I hadn't applied for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Puraskar and the Padma Bhushan but few supportive officials felt that I should still be given the award. So its those kind of officials and people who move the sport forward.

"God has been very kind in my lifetime, whenever I have had problems He has sent somebody for help," he said.

Meanwhile, Sindhu's father PV Ramana said that people who earlier used to criticise them for letting their daughter take sports as a career are the ones to appreciate her achievements and their sacrifices now.

"When Sindhu used to leave for training sometimes at 4'o clock and sometimes at 5'o clock and afterwards when we used to go for walks so many people used to say that why are you bearing so much but the same people now say that we are so proud of your daughter," Ramana told PTI.

"Unless and until we don't sacrifice or put in some hard work we don't get the fruit which Sindhu has done and she has got the fruits of it," he added.

On being asked about his sacrifices, Ramana said: "As parents its our duty and moreover we being sports persons we know what is the importance of sports in the lives of sportsmen and how hard one has to work to come up to this level so we gave in our best to help our daughter achieve all that she deserves.

"Parents instead of pressurising their kids should come forward to support them in whichever field they want and then surely the child will also try to repay it back through the hard work and my daughter has done that to me," he concluded.

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News Network
March 22,2024

IPL.jpg

The start of the world’s most lucrative cricket tournament in India is presenting investors with another big opportunity to cash in on the sport, months after the world’s most populous nation hosted the Cricket World Cup.

The eight-week long Indian Premier League begins March 22 for its 17th season. Since its inception, the fast-paced cricket tournament has become a corporate juggernaut to rival the National Football League in the US and the English Premier League in value.

Just as October’s Cricket World Cup boosted consumption in India for months, fans are expected to flock to restaurants, pubs and food delivery platforms over the duration of the tournament. This year’s IPL also coincides with general elections that will last for six weeks starting April 19, a period when companies are expecting higher food and drink sales as people flock to rallies and other events.

“There’s going to be a lot of spending,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. “IPL, as well as the election, gives a three-month corridor with enhanced economic activity.”

Stocks in India such as McDonald’s franchise operator Westlife Foodworld Ltd. and peer Sapphire Foods India Ltd. gained ahead of the first match on Friday, as well as hotels and beverage makers. Packaged-food companies could also stand to benefit from the IPL craze, said Sachil Bobade, an analyst at investment firm Dolat Capital Market.

The IPL ecosystem was valued at $11 billion (Rs 91,721 crores) in 2023, including the value of media rights and sponsorships, according to Indian valuation consulting firm D&P Advisory.

The league is also attracting record sums of money from sponsors and broadcasters. Conglomerate Tata Group won the title sponsorship rights of the tournament in January for a record 25 billion rupees ($300 million). Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media venture secured the digital streaming rights in 2022 for five years for $2.7 billion, while Walt Disney Co. paid roughly the same for TV rights.

“There was a serious amount of bidding even this year,” said Vinit Karnik, head of entertainment, esports and sports at media agency GroupM South Asia. “I see growth in IPL in double digits year-on-year,” he adds.

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