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Listening Window Odisha Knowledge Hub Lecture Series 109

LECTURE 17 Going Beyond Boundaries
Pullela Gopichand

Pullela Gopichand was born on November 16, 1973, and like most
Indian kids, he too was initially drawn towards cricket. He won five
consecutive national championships in badminton between 1996 and
2000, two Gold medals at the SAARC Badminton Championship. He
also later went on to win medals at the CWG in 1998 and won a variety
of other tournaments like Toulouze Open, Scottish Open and the Asian
Satellite Open.

Gopichand’s crowning glory came in 2001 when he became just
the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to win the prestigious All
England Championships. Many top honours followed such as the
Arjuna Award in 1999,the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2001, the
Padma Shri Award in 2005, the Dronacharya Award in 2009 and the
Padma Bhushan Award, India’s third highest civilian award, in 2014.

Gopichand took charge as the Chief National Coach for Badminton
Association of India in 2004. His Academy in Hyderabad is recognized by
the Badminton World Federation as a centre of excellence. The academy
today has over 100 players in the coaching program and includes the
creme de la creme of Indian badminton. The list includes Saina Nehwal,
P.V Sindhu, P. Kashyap, K Sriknath and RMV Guru Sai Dutt.