Seasoned badminton coach Pullela Gopichand stressed the importance of maintaining a positive mentality for sportspeople during an interaction in the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2023.
Gopichand, 49, insisted that professional athletes need to find happiness in the process of playing the game to last long in their respective careers. He advocated having the ability to switch gears when one steps on the court. Off the playing arena, he encouraged players to have gratitude for what they have achieved.
To substantiate this theory, Gopichand narrated an incident with two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu. The 28-year-old Hyderabad star had clinched the silver medal in the quadrennial games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She had defeated her Japanese counterpart Okuhara Nazomi in the semi-final before going down in three sets to Carolina Marin in the summit clash.
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Gopichand coached her during that phase of her career and revealed that her counsel to the shuttler was starkly defeated after the two games. He was not in the mood to celebrate after the semis but motivated her to soak at the moment and live it to her fullest even after the loss in the final.
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“When we played the semi-finals in Rio, after the match Sindhu came and I shook her hand although I was bursting inside. I just kept a plain face and I said ‘Congrats! Well done. Quickly finish off the press conference, have your food and we have a job to do. I really want you to prepare quickly for tomorrow’s match.’ This is what I told her after the semi-final. It was a planned expression,” Gopichand said.
He added, “She loses the final. There is a picture where I am holding her and telling her something. The words I said were, ‘You had a great week. You had a great year of preparation for this. Don’t think that you have lost the gold. Think that you have won the silver and when you are at the podium, I want you to see the celebration for winning the silver and not thinking of having lost the gold.’ That perspective is important.”
The tactician explained that professional badminton players participate in numerous tournaments across the year and they are bound to face defeats in the majority of them. In his opinion, it is important to not get bogged down by setbacks but to constantly be grateful for whatever one has achieved in their life and career.
“You want hungry people at work. You want satisfied and happy people outside of work at home,” Gopichand quipped.
