Pullela Gopichand on Indian badminton: I’m looking forward to the next generation of champions

Pullela Gopichand is the rare athlete whose coaching legacy has eclipsed his playing career. A former All England champion, he has been instrumental in establishing a system that produced India’s modern badminton stars, including Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu.A few years after his now-renowned academy opened its doors, India hosted the World Championships for the first time, in his backyard – Hyderabad, in 2009. India was just one of many countries taking part that year, still finding its feet on badminton’s biggest individual stage.Seventeen years on, the tournament returns to Indian soil, with New Delhi playing host this time. In those years, the country has bagged 14 medals at the World Championships, including Sindhu’s historic gold in 2019.Ahead of the Worlds that get underway on Monday, a conversation with Gopichand kept circling back to a question he has fielded for years, in one form or another: how do you measure today’s generation against his own? His answer was unambiguous: you don’t.“I think it would be very unfair to compare or even think of comparisons. Today’s challenges are today’s, and today’s opportunities are today’s. Back in the day, our aspirations and our outlook were small. Today, the kids are a lot more aware and their horizons are much bigger. They step in with an ‘I want to be a world champion’ kind of attitude,” he told Sportstar.For Gopichand, it’s a shift shaped as much by opportunity as by ambition. “Back in the day, we wanted to play well, avoid injuries and get a job. That is all we thought about. That is not the case today. Across generations, there are very different mindsets and aspirations.”For the 52-year-old, that revelation has also been personal. His daughter, Gayatri, has carved out her own career – and he was careful to draw a line between his achievements and hers.RELATED | ‘No feeling of revenge or pressure’: Ayush Shetty on facing Shi Yu Qi“She’s done well. She’s a Commonwealth medallist, got to two All England semifinals and is the highest-ranked women’s doubles player the country has ever produced. Forget about what I have done. As a parent, that makes me happy and proud. I’m rejoicing at what she’s doing and I don’t want my All England (win) to overshadow what a phenomenal job she is doing.”For all the generational gaps he pointed to, Gopichand was unambiguous about where Indian badminton goes from here.“I’m looking forward to the next generation of champions. And India hosting the World Championships again should catapult that jump and there’s a huge opportunity for us to propel further in the badminton world.”