There is no bigger legend in the Indian badminton ecosystem than Pullela Gopichand.
Gopichand has been at the forefront of transforming the lives of shuttlers in India and transforming them into Olympians, including double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu.
He, however, mentioned that there is no job guarantee even for the Asian Games medalists and National Champions in India.
“We have national champions, who work as peons,” Gopichand said in an interview to The Bridge. “We have National Games champions without jobs, we have Asian Games silver medallist national record holder working as a junior clerk.
“These are not great jobs. We want better jobs is what I am talking about,” he added.
Talking about his journey, the Dronacharya awardee highlighted how a job at TATA Steel kept him going at badminton despite his failure at IIT.
“My brother went to IIT, so the standards at home were very different,” recalled Gopichand. “I wrote the IIT exam and I failed.
“I wasn’t that good at junior level (in badminton), so my parents said you better play well
“What made me continue playing the sport was my job in Tata Steel, that was very important
“If in 1991 when I turned 18, I did not get a job in Tata Steel, I would have written the engineering exam and become an engineer somehow or the other. But since I got the job, my parents were like ‘Now there is a safety net, you can play,’” he added.
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