The injuries I had are the connecting dots of my success: Gopichand

Former All England Champion and badminton national chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who have forcefully studied engineering fulltime and failed at math and at IIT entrance exam, shared his story filled with ups and downs at the recently-concluded panel discussion on ‘Haar Ko Harao’. He shared his personal failure and explains why it is good to fail.

The 44-year-old said, “I decided to sign up for a professional sport later. But an international medal was never the dream. I wanted to be a state champion because Andhra Pradesh had never produced a national champion at the time. But managing my education and sport was a challenge. Besides, I did not get admission into any cricket academy and my parents told me that training for tennis would be an expensive proposition. There was failure written everywhere. I chose badminton and made it my sport. But it hasn’t been any easy journey. I have had to face many challenges and take them in my stride and learn from them.”

Before 2000 Olympics in Atlanta Gopichand trained intensely and visualized himself winning the gold medal every day. But all the preparation went in vain as the courts at the Olympic grounds that year were cemented. “My left knee had already undergone three surgeries and all I managed to score after my first match was a huge swollen ball at the back of my bad knee. I was down with 101 temperature; I had taken three powerful painkillers and three knee massages, but I couldn’t recover before my pre-quarter final and lost the match. The next morning, I got the same vision — I was winning the Olympic medal — and I had to tell myself, ‘bhai Olympics khatam, ghar jao!’,” he said.

He added, “I began to follow a regimen that meant I only ate, slept, played and did nothing else. It was my way of doing whatever it took to improve my situations.”

Gopichand is the big fan of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist book. In the book, it says, ‘If you really want something, the universe conspires to give it to you.’ National chief coach feels the line to be true and he believes it. “I now believe that you must put all your energies into what you desire, but understand that the universe will not give you what you want when you want it. It will only give you when nature decides that it is the right time to give it you. That’s the part people forget,” said the coach.

“I don’t know how champions are born or made. I don’t know what drives them. But for me, winning means, ‘who I am today is the best version of myself I can be,” he added, “Sport brings confidence to the winner, but it also does the same to the loser. Our aim must be to encourage everyone to get up and run again, to move on and keep pushing yourself further.”

Gopichand is very much inspired and moved by the story of 13-year-old girl at his academy.

He shared, “For many years, sports meant passion, victory, watching India’s flag wave with pride. Three years ago, it all changed. I was coaching a young batch of students and I threw a shuttle at a 13-year-old-girl. All she had to do was catch the shuttle and throw it back to me. But she missed it. I threw another shuttle and she dropped it again. I was disappointed, I said, ‘forget it’ and I walked off.

There were 30 other kids that needed coaching and I went on to work with them. When I walked back, the 13-year-old-girl was still standing there and she asked me, ‘Sir, will you teach me how to catch?’ She didn’t give up. She wanted to learn. Even today, when I think about the incident, it brings tears to my eyes. It made me realise, if you are willing to learn from your mistakes, that’s your greatest achievement.”

He feels that the series of injuries he experienced during his journey are like connecting dots to his success. He said, “The injuries and failures have made me the player and the coach I am. Had it not been for those times, I would have never introspected, understood and loved the sport the way I do. The times I have spent away from the court have been the most valuable, and the injuries my biggest successes.”