It`s Pullela Gopichand and his badminton academy who produce the top class shuttlers like Saina Nehwal and P.V Sandhu.
The amazing run of P.V. Sindhu at the Rio Olympics has brought the focus on her celebrated coach and his academy here. Sindhu, who created history by bagging silver in the women`s singles event, is one of the products of Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy.
Yesterday, P.V. Sindhu created history by bagging silver medal in the women`s singles event in Badminton. She is one of the products of Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy.
P.V. Sandhu brings laurels to the academy set up by former All England Open Champion. She is the second woman shuttler of India after Saina Nehwal to take the badminton world by storm.
Analysts say the credit of turning India into a formidable force in the world of badminton goes to the 42-year-old, who has groomed world-class talents.
Arun Vishnu, Gurusai Datt, Arundhati Pantawane, Prannoy Kumar, Parupalli Kashyap and Srikanth Kidambi are other products of his academy who have made it big in the game.
Gopichand always had dreams of producing Olympic medallists. His efforts started yielding results with Saina bagging bronze in the London Olympics 2012.
She became the first Indian woman shuttler to achieve the feat. After Four years, the dream of Gopichand again came true with Sindhu reaching the final and losing there only to World No.1 Carolina Marin in Rio Olympic 2016.
When she started training at the academy at the age of 10, Gopi spotted talent in Sindhu.
The academy set up in 2008 with an eight-court badminton hall.The academy is rated one of the best in Asia.
A former volleyball player, the father of Sindhu P.V. Raman said that sometimes I feel bad that in spite being down with cold and fever, he comes to the academy to train Sindhu and other players.
Gopi won the All England Open Championship in 2001 to become only the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to lift the title. He admitted that the win came a bit late in his career.
Injuries forced Gopi to go for an early retirement but he decided to do the role of a coach and create a world class infrastructure to fill the vacuum.
Looking for talent across the country, Gopi set up academies in Salem(Tamil Nadu), Tanuka(Andhra Pradesh), Vadodara and Gwalior. He also plans to open more including one in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
