‘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
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8: Skipper Virat Kohli struck an unbeaten 30 as India beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Indore on Tuesday.

The hosts rode a 71-run opening stand between KL Rahul, who hit 45, and Shikhar Dhawan, who made 32, to chase down their target of 143 in 17.3 overs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after the first match was rained off.

Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga took the wickets of the Indian openers but Shreyas Iyer, who scored 34 before falling to paceman Lahiru Kumara, and Kohli, who hit the winning six, got the team home.

The third match is on Friday in Pune.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Hobart, Jan 18: In a dream start to her second innings after a two-year break, Sania Mirza lifted the WTA Hobart International trophy with partner Nadiia Kichenok after edging out Shaui Peng and Shuai Zhang in the final, here on Saturday.

The unseeded Indo-Ukrainian pair pipped the second seed Chinese team 6-4, 6-4 in one hour 21 minutes.

Playing her first tournament after giving birth to son Izhaan, the 33-year-old Sania has begun well in the Olympic year as she warmed up for the Australian Open in style.

It is Sania's 42nd WTA doubles title and first since Brisbane International trophy in 2007 with American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Sania did not compete on the WTA circuit in the entire 2018 and 2019 seasons to start a family with Pakistani cricketer husband Shoaib Malik.

Sania and Nadiia began by breaking the Chinese players in the very first game of the match but only to drop serve in the next.

The two pairs played close games towards the end and at 4-4, 40-all, Sania and Nadiia got the crucial break, earning the opportunity to serve out the set.

There was no twist in 10th game with Sania and Nadiia comfortably pocketing the first set.

The second set could not have started better for them as they broke the Chinese rivals to take early lead and consolidated the break with an easy hold.

The game of the Chinese was falling apart as they dropped serve again in the third but broke back immediately to repair some damage.

Sania and Nadiia were now feeling the heat at 0-30 in the sixth game but Peng and Zhang let them hold serve for a 4-2 lead. The Chinese though kept fighting and made it 4-4 with another break in the eighth game.

The Indo-Ukraine team raised its game when it mattered as it broke Peng and Zhang for one final time in the ninth and served out the match in the next game.

Sania and Nadiia split USD 13580 as prize money and eared 280 ranking points each for their winning effort.

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