Pullela Gopichand was born in a family that had modest means but placed a premium on values and discipline. Like a lot of kids, all his waking hours were spent either playing or thinking about exceling at his chosen sport, badminton.
But what stood out even at that early age of 11 was his passion to win and his ability to work extremely hard at his craft.
The strict discipline and regular sleeping habits at home ensured that Gopi was the first to hit the practise courts at 5:30 AM. This was a half hour earlier than his team mates, ensuring he got some more court time. Likewise when practice would get over, his eagerness to excel would lead to him to ask for and then do more physical exercises.
In his developing years, Gopi would struggle to have enough shuttlecocks to play and often he would have to control or curtail hitting his favourite jump smash.
Gopi’s mother would walk for miles and avoid public transport to save money that was used to buy her son a shuttle cock. As Gopi started his climb to the top echelons of the Indian badminton scene, his family smilingly endured a lot of hard ship and sacrifice.
The biography of Gopichand touchingly depicts how the simple family chose to forego movies and restaurants and even all social and family outings for over a decade. This was done to save enough money for the travel, kit and shuttlecocks that their son would need at an increasing rate as Gopi’s game and his smashing took on a more effective and aggressive form.
During those days there was a practise of permitting Indian sports persons to represent the nation but “at no cost” to Government. This meant that his family would have to sell their jewellery to fund his travel and stay while he played for the country.
During these International tournaments, Gopi would play fearlessly and attack uninhibitedly even against top ranked players. Yet Gopi would also plan for future conquests after the matches were over. This planning would include collecting used shuttlecocks during the tournament, and he would return home with a huge set of used shuttlecocks, much to the amazement of Custom officials.
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