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The Rediff Interview /Pullella Gopichand

'My goal is a medal in Sydney'

Pullella Gopichand rules Indian badminton, today. After the exploits of the legendary Prakash Padukone on the international circuit, the badminton fraternity was desperately seeking a candidate to fill the master’s shoes. The soft-spoken Gopichand is showing signs of doing exactly that. Having won the national title for four consecutive years, Gopi is increasingly making a mark on the international scene as well.

2000 has been by far Gopi’s best year on the international circuit. Besides claiming three international crowns, Gopi has reached number 18 in the world rankings, the highest achieved by an Indian shuttler after the legendary Prakash. He was recently conferred with the Arjuna Award, and will represent India at the Olympics later this year. In this freewheeling interview, Gopi speaks to K Nagarajan about the award, his year and the state of the game in India.

First of all, Gopi, you must be very pleased at getting the Arjuna award.

Yes , I am very happy about it because not many badminton players have won it and in recent years, not even one has won the honour. I have worked very hard for it, and I am very happy about it.

This has been your best year on the international circuit by far. Just talk us through the high points of the year?

It has been quite a good year because besides the victories on the international scene, there has been the Thomas cup in Delhi which India qualified for after a long time. I was a member of the team which got through, and I am very happy about it. Other than that, I used to have quite a few wins in earlier years, but they never translated into tournament wins. So this year I made a couple of Grand Prix finals and won a few tournaments, which is good. I think the German Open finals was important because I wasn’t going through a good phase until then. I beat a couple of good players there, and did well, and from then on started doing well with tournament wins in the Toulouse Open, the Scottish Open and the Asian Satellite followed by the Thomas Cup. So yes, overall it has been a good year.

You are currently ranked 18 in the world. Are you happy with where you are and what are your ambitions for the future?

I am satisfied with my present standing but there is still some way to go for me to achieve my goals. I had been performing decently, but my ranking was stuck in the 30s for a almost two years. Being in the top 20 was always one of my aims, and having accomplished that, it is a step closer to where I want to be.

Tell us about playing the best in the world at Kuala Lumpur in the Thomas Cup finals. How do you think that experience will help Indian badminton?

I think it was important for two reasons. First of all, qualifying after a long time was itself a big boost. We had a good team and I don’t know when we would have done it if not now. There was a group of good young players involved, and also the support from the association was available when it mattered. In Kuala Lumpur , playing against the best in the world, we learnt a lot about our deficiencies as well, but at this point we know what we have to do and with the help of our coaches and administrators we should work on our combinations and the depth of our singles, and that should be good for the future.

Several young players like Sachin Ratti and Siddharth Jain are beginning to make a mark of late. Do you expect to be pushed even more by them in the future at domestic level?

Yes, I expect to be pushed even more. These young players are good and I think they have a lot of years to go. Once they get more exposure and things start moving fast, I think they should start performing much better and it will benefit Indian badminton tremendously.

How do you think Prakash Padukone’s resignation as the Executive President of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) will affect the game in India?

For one, ever since he was at the helm of affairs, we have had our best years of badminton in a long time. The performance of the players speaks for itself. Plus, we have had better tournaments and more money has come into the sport. I respect his decision to quit, and so do most of the players. He has said that he would like to give more time to coaching and personally, I think he can be a great asset if used properly on court.

Finally Gopi , the Sydney Olympics will be the big event for you this season. What are your expectations going into Sydney?

The Olympics is definitely a big event. But being there is not the most important thing for me. It is doing well there that matters the most to me. I hope to be playing to the best of my ability when I go there, and will try and win a medal for the country. That will be my topmost priority. Hopefully, by the time the Olympics come around, I will be in the best physical and mental shape possible so I can give it my best shot.

Interviews