The Forgotten Champion: Revisiting Pullela Gopichand’s badminton triumph of 2001

 A LOT OF ARTICLES have come out on the 25th anniversary of the March 2001 India versus Australia Test series, which the Indians under Sourav Ganguly won 2-1.

It marked a new beginning for Indian cricket and was also a turning point for world cricket in the immediate aftermath of the match-fixing controversy. In every sense, it was a miracle series, and every piece published on it is justified. But what isn’t fair, however, is that we are all guilty of only looking at the 25th anniversary of that cricket series. In the very same year, on March 11, Pullela Gopichand became the second Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships, marking a historic moment in the history of Indian badminton.

Winning the All England is one of the hardest things in the sport, and only last month Lakshya Sen came very close. Saina too has made the final, but only two men, Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand, have been able to scale the summit. It was an achievement that should have been memorialised and celebrated far more than it has been. There has been the odd one-off piece, but what it meant for the sport has largely been left untouched.

This is where we in the media need to introspect.

While it is easy to blame the fans for not supporting Indian Olympic sports, the truth is that the fans will consume what we report to them. If we write about MLAs wanting free tickets at the Chinnaswamy for an IPL match, there will indeed be a debate around it. If we write on Laxman, Dravid and Harbhajan in the context of the 25th anniversary of India’s Test victory over Australia, there will be an interest in trying to go back and check out what happened at the Eden Gardens. If the media is silent on Gopichand, then how do we even expect other sports to come up the ranks and compete with cricket?

Pullela Gopichand is a very dear friend and one of the best India has produced. But where Gopichand isn’t the best is in talking himself up. He is hardly there on social media and has always loved the backstage. For him, the public celebrations and acknowledgements don’t matter, and he is very happy getting up at 5 am and going straight to his academy to coach the next generation.

You remind him of the 2001 All England win and the 25th anniversary, and all he does is smile. “It is a long time ago. Badminton wasn’t the sport that it is today. You don’t expect people to remember, so there is nothing to feel bad about it. What is far more relevant is what it has done for the sport. You look at the academies across the country, and you know the participation levels have gone up exponentially. You see the level of talent, and you feel a sense of optimism. All of this is the real legacy. Whether or not we celebrate the All England win is never really something I have thought about. It is about the sport and not about me,” said Gopi.

Comments like these make him what he is— the real Dronacharya of Indian sport. Someone who commands respect and has immense credibility. Someone whom people look up to and believe in. Gopi knows he has his task cut out in what is a massive year for the sport. We in India love multi-disciplinary games, and the Asian Games will be the real big one. Can badminton, which had a barren run at the Paris 2024 Olympics, step up and redeem itself? As India’s head coach, Gopi will have the responsibility to deliver.

“I’d much rather focus on the present and what we need to do. Look at the Thomas and Uber Cup, the Asian Games and the like. Focus on the age group programmes. Focus on development in the North East, for example, where there is enormous talent. That’s what I’d like to do, and not look back at what I did in my career. That’s for historians like you,” he says to me with a smile.

There are many reasons to like someone like Gopichand. These comments add to it. You need more like him in India, and it is time we gave him his due. It is not either/or. As we focus on the present, we should also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 2001 All England win.