'Consistency At The Top Is A Must'

Faith can move mountains, goes the saying. For Pullela Gopi Chand belief inthe Almighty does not connote stretching his expectations to the extreme,but helps him put in his best, irrespective of the results. This timearound, his best was good enough to land him the All-England Championshiptitle, making him only the second Indian to do so after former coach andmentor Prakash Padukone made headlines in 1980.

Though Gopi claims he "does it for himself and not for the sport", thecombined effect of meditation, pranayam and prayer have spilt over to helpthe ace shuttler "stay calm and think better" on and, more importantly, offthe court while waiting for the "system to change" at home. If BAIpresident V.K.Verma's statement is anything to go by, the mandarins in theBadminton Association of India have taken note of the 27-year-oldHyderabadi's accomplishment and resolved to work with renewed zeal on thecurrent crop of promising players like Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Nikhil Kanetkar,Siddhartha Jain, Ajit Wijetilak and Sachin Ratti.

It was a dream run for the No. 10 seed Gopi at Birmingham as hepowered to the title without dropping a game. Asked whether he had suddenlyimproved as a player, Gopi replied: "All the things in my game cametogether (this week). I have beaten most of the players at one time oranother. I just went from winning one big (match) to two matches and now toa big title." Words of a humble man. Of one who had humbled, during thecourse of the week, the likes of Olympic champion Ji Xin-Peng of China andworld No 1 and top-seed, Dane Peter Gade Christensen.

A "Great Leap Forward" it was for Gopi. The Indian had to miss out lastyear's action here due to typhoid while 1999 saw him make a first roundexit. The previous two years, his run extended to the pre-quarter-finalstage. His most "satisfying" All-England win previously was the triumphover Allan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia. From a bits-and-pieces record atbadminton's Wimbledon, Gopi suddenly found himself a step away from thecrown and immortality. Though not a stranger to the winner's podium byvirtue of title wins in Grand Prix events like the Scottish and ToulouseOpens and Asian Satellite Circuit, the prospect of seeing his namealongside former All-England greets would have been an altogether different feeling.

The unassuming product of Nizam's College at Hyderabad did not allowthe week's results have a heady effect on him but instead stayed focussedfor the summit clash with Chinese Chen Hong. Meditation, even ten minutesbefore he took to the court, seemed to do little in soothing Gopi's nervesas he lapsed into unforced errors.. But he hung on. Closing his eyes afterwinning a point and pumping his fist to psyche himself up, Gopi came intohis own. Making the Chinese play to his strengths - deception, control andnet play, Gopi took the honours. No ambitious display of emotions. Just asimple raise of his hands and a prolonged gaze towards the heavens,thankful he had emulated his role model, "Prakash Sir".

As Steven Badley, a former international and chief executive of theBadminton Association of England, handed over the glittering trophy toGopi, the cameras captured the Indian's moist eyes. A commoner would haveinterpreted the tears as those of just a happy man, which Gopi was, despiteuttering, "It's a dream and it hasn't sunk in yet." The shuttler wasundoubtedly reflecting on the fateful day during the Pune National Games in1994 when a knee injury threatened to crush the budding player'saspirations after the spark he had displayed by winning the junior Nationalsin 1991. It was the expertise of Dr. Ashok Rajagopal that had Gopi back onhis feet but the break had left his game rusty. A berth in PrakashPadukone's academy at 22 was like an answer to his prayers and it set thefoundation for his future exploits.

Besides acquiring the cutting edge to his game, discipline was anotherquality the three-year stay at the academy inculcated in Gopi. Said Prakash"Our way of operating is almost like that of National Association. Talentof course is the main factor for selection, but not the only factor.Discipline is also important. The pupils have to listen to us and they haveto do as they are told."

The year 1997 proved to be a watermark in his career as Gopi began making a mark inthe international arena when he finished runner-up in the Indian Open andSAS Trophy, after upstaging higher ranked players, a phenomenon he has beenrepeating since then with unfailing regularity. Notwithstanding the oddhiccup, the Sydney Olympics being noteworthy, Gopi has moved up steadily -a career-best world No 6 ranking in February 2001 - but he refuses to reston past glories. "I still need to work hard. The circuit is so tough thatone runs into seeded players from the first round itself. Consistency is amust at the top level."

Confident of his abilities, Gopi took the bold decision of moving outof Prakash's academy one-and-half-years ago and teaming up with PrasadGanguly at SAI's Southern Centre, also in Bangalore. The move removed hisgrouse of the lack of a "travelling" coach.. "At the top level thedifference isn't much and this (coach) factor makes a difference. Topplayers have coaches with them who analyse the matches from the sidelinesand feed their wards with inputs on their rivals. These days the game isall about power and speed. My attack is good and stroke-wise I can matchanyone," were Gopi's words. Working with Ganguly and the emphasis onon-court training translated his utterings into action at Birmingham.

Prasad Ganguly might have been the first to hug Gopi, but the creditof spotting and moulding the player in Gopi goes to national coachS.M.Arif, whose choice was justified as Gopi began creating waves when hewas just 15. Alive to the potential Gopi possessed, Arif had dared topredict that his pupil would be a world champion. Today he standsvindicated. Says Arif: "Gopi tends to push himself too hard. At times I hadto restrain him." In his bid to reach for the stars, Gopi played in theGerman and Swedish circuits which "emboldened him while taking on topplayers". Apart from adding value to his game, Gopi opined about theoverseas stints: "Players here (in India) have to take care of theirtickets, visa, foreign exchange and have to go hunting for personalsponsors (hard to come by). I played for FC Langenfeld in Germany for threeyears and felt the difference." It was the contrast which had him hittingout at the media during the Senior Nationals at Jaipur for its "fixation"about cricket and "blacking" out other disciplines.

Not only setting higher goals for himself, Gopi has taken it uponhimself to improve the game's lot in the country. And this bore credencewhen the Sports Ministry, acknowledging his individual bronze and teamsilver medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, placed badminton in CategoryA of its priority list in sports. Indian badminton never had it so good.Gopi proved his credentials beyond doubt when he guided India to thefinals of the Thomas Cup last year after a 12-year gap and claimed hisfifth national title on the trot.

With Gopi showing the way, the younger crop, while handicapped by thelack of infrastructure, are definitely not short on inspiration. SaysPrakash: "When Gopi won that (final) point it brought back memories of thetime when I won. It is a red letter day for Indian badminton. His featshould give the other Indians the confidence that they too can be worldbeaters. We lack in self-confidence and fail to play to our potentialspecially abroad."

As the pundits would say in unison, there are greater laurels in store forGopi. For "faith in God" has taught the simpleton from Nagandla village inthe Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh to perform his karma and leave therest to the Almighty.