Gurusai Dutt: A True Inspiration to Many

Indian badminton player Gurusaidutt R.M.V, who rose to 19 spots up to 89th position in the updated BWF World Rankings after clinching bronze at the recently concluded BWF Super 100 Hyderabad Open, talks about his ankle injury, mentors, and infrastructure in India, in an exclusive interview with gobadminton.in.

Kashyap has been guiding you through out the Hyderabad Open tournament. Is he your new mentor? How does it feel like to be coached by your co-trainee?

Kashyap has been like my elder brother I would say, more than a friend. Since 2007, we have been known to each other. I have spent more time with him than anyone else. We have travelled together for many tournaments and we have trained in Malaysia for almost four months in 2008.

You both started the career together?

He is two years older to me, but after he shifted to Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy at Gachibowli, we were the only two senior players. Ofcourse he was the best player then, in the U-19 category. Since past four years, we got more closer as he always motivate me, talks about my game, strength and weakness. I always feel positive vibes around him I would say. Be it Kashyap, Saina (Nehwal) or Gopi(chand) sir, whenever we talk to them. it is really motivating and one can feel the positivity flowing through.

Kashyap is more experienced than us. He played many tournaments than us like reaching the Olympic Quarter-Finals and winning Gold at the Commonwealth Games. All his inputs are really valuable right now.

Can we expect another career best, as we can see your rankings had been dropped from Top 20 to somewhere in 900’s, now again back in top 100?

Last two years have been very tough as I had a career threatening injury, but I’m happy with the comeback as I have an amazing team with the likes of Gopi sir, coaches, family, friends, who has been motivating me and boosting my confidence to get back to the top again.

Raising from 900’s to top 100 is a good drastic and quick change after playing just four to five tournaments; in which I have reached finals, semi-finals and also have won a couple of them.

But now getting back to top 20 is not easy as I need to work harder with the consistency. If you notice, in the last two tournaments, my performance has been improving playing against the top players, I’m very happy with the way I played at good level after a very long time. Now I need to plan wisely.

 What are the areas you think you need to work on to improve the performance?

I think I need to keep training at the moment, which is a big challenge. I had ankle issue before, now I can’t take any risk. I need to plan accordingly with my coach. The efforts behind the 40-minute match is much bigger than the match duration. It is not that easy.

Of course I give my inputs too as our bodies are different.

Apart from this, there are many people at the academy. There are many coaches and physios behind my hard work, with whom I’m able to play (laughs).

How do you think is the infrastructure for the sport in India evolved throughout the years?

During 2008, there was no other academy as good as Gopichand Academy. All the players like Saina, Kashyap, Sai Praneeth, Srikanth and Sindhu have been doing well over the years. Badminton gained limelight. And yes, Doubles are also performing really well on the international platform.

Thanks to Gopi sir and the quality infrastructure for the sport that has enhanced by leaps and bounds throughout the years.

What do you think about the recently-concluded Hyderabad Open 2018 in Hyderabad?

It is good to have such kind of tournaments in the home-land. If we look at the players point-of-view, each non-sponsored player will have to spend over one to one-and-half lakh for every tournament we participate in.

Due to the ranks, many are not the part of the Indian team for any international event abroad, like me who are self-funded.

After getting back to top-50 may be, we might get sponsors. But, BAI and Government of India have been supporting throughout. We are in the good shape right now in the regards of the badminton in the country.

About the 2018 Hyderabad Open, it is a good opportunity for the juniors to get the international exposure. We need to have many more such events in India.