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Former badminton player Pullella Gopichand is one of the names synonymous with the sport in India. Only the second Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships after another iconic player, Prakash Padukone, Gopichand is highly decorated – he won the Arjuna Award for sportsmanship in 1999, and the Dronacharya Award a decade later for his coaching prowess. He was honoured with India’s third-highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, last year.
Ever since hanging up his racquet in 2003, Gopichand has poured himself into nurturing the brightest talent India has to offer. Now he will soon be coaching his 12-year old daughter Gayatri, who created history today by becoming the youngest shuttler to be selected for a national youth side. Aged just 12, she will be participating in the Asian Youth Championship at Kudus, Indonesia from October 7 to 11. Gayatri will be an integral member of the Indian contingent, participating in both the U-15 and U-17 categories.
The Championship winner’s daughter has been making quite the name for herself within the Indian badminton scene. Last week at a national tournament in Gulbarga, the youngster claimed three titles, winning the u-13 and u-15 singles titles and the U-15 doubles event with partner Vaishnavi Jakka Reddy. The partnership will again be on show at the Youth Championships, with the pair participating in the U-17 category.
Gopichand will not be able to attend his daughter’s event in Indonesia, however, as he will be travelling with the senior national team to Japan and Korea for different Super Series events. However, he was quick to point out how her journey has only started.
”It’s great to see that she is doing so well and she should only get better from here on. But, this is the pivotal time in her career as she needs to know that ther hard work will begin right now and won’t stop till the end,” he said.
A 22-member (11 girls, 11 boys) squad will be travelling to Indonesia aiming to take Indian youth badminton to greater heights.
