The new king of shuttle

V. RAMNARAYAN

Prakash Padukone was the quietly confident type who did not flaunt his celebrity status. A great champion, whose action spoke louder than words. And once his playing days were over, he brought the same quiet, steely determination to his continuing work with badminton as a coach and reformer.

Not surprisingly, India's next badminton great has been cast in a similar mould. Pullela Gopichand is not very different from Prakash, with the same fiery ambition to excel, the same quiet confidence, the same emphasis on physical fitness, the same tough mental qualities that go to make champions.

But Gopichand is Gopichand. He has been his own man, not willing to walk in another's shadow. In international competition, he has played against and watched the best, but they never overawed him. I always believed that I could beat them all, he once told a pressman. In this, he is different from a lot of Indian sportsmen, who tend to hero-worship those they must beat in competition.

From playing badminton for fun and to keep fit, to winning the junior nationals in Goa, as a 17-year-old, was the first major step Gopichand took. He has made steady progress since then, winning the senior national title four times. Coached by Mohammed Arif, Gopichand not only worked hard at his badminton, but also followed a Spartan regimen of diet and training to achieve peak physical fitness. Three knee operations since 1994 curtailed his progress at vital moments, but have done nothing to dim his ardour.

Over the years, Gopi has developed a playing style that is quite unlike any adopted by any other Indian. He has had the courage of his conviction to go against the advice of coaches and senior players, who wanted him to play typically Indian badminton, with subtle drop shots and deception. But to succeed at the global level, Gopi believed he needed power, the kind of power that South East Asian and European players generate. So, he arrived at a hybrid style that combines speed, power and the Indian style of badminton. While he can be deceptive like other Indians, Gopichand can also play long rallies and execute the jump smash. It was this difference in perception that led to his parting ways with the BPL Academy led by his mentor Prakash Padukone.

But Gopichand has drawn deep from Indian tradition. His training in meditation has enabled him to forget his surroundings or the importance of the occasion, and concentrate on winning the match in question, taking it point by point. It was this ability that stood him in such good stead during his spectacular All England triumph.

He is also philosophical enough to realise that he has to take it one day at a time. For he has had major injury problems, from which he has come back to play world-class badminton. Most players would have quit after such a serious knee injury and three major operations. He is 27 now, a rather mature age in badminton, but that does not bother him. He has just concentrated on staying healthy, fit and competitive.

With wins in the Toulouse Open, the Scottish Open and the Asian Satellite Open, two Grand Prix finals and his great showing at the Thomas Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur, Gopichand was hopeful of winning a medal at the Sydney Olympics last year. But that was not to be, as he lost to Indonesia's Hendrawan in the third round in three sets. That was a bitter disappointment and Gopi could not touch a badminton racquet for a couple of weeks.

But he had targets to achieve, dreams to fulfil, and he picked himself up and worked hard at improving his speed, his power and staying on top mentally. Winning one of the three major events ahead, the All England, the World Grand Prix and the World Championship, was uppermost in his agenda.

His actual progress in the All England tourney has been written about sufficiently to need no elaboration here. Every round was tough but beating world no.1 Peter Gade in the semifinal round was a clear indicator that Pullela Gopichand was about to repeat Prakash Padukone's feat 21 years ago.

Stupendous, it certainly has been for this combative but largely unnoticed champion in a nation crazy about cricket, to have fought the odds and win the supreme challenge in badminton. Despite the brave battle waged against the establishment by Prakash Padukone and his followers, including Gopichand, the facilities and incentives available have been negligible. For instance, Gopichand must be the only top ten player in the world to carry his own video camera everywhere to record the competition and have himself shot, to analyse strengths and weaknesses and to chalk out strategies based on the footage so achieved. It will be surprising if the All England champion can even now afford a personal coach to travel with him.

But that has been Gopichand's style to fight against the odds and have enough self-belief to pursue his own path to stardom. He is a tough little Indian.

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