Olympics for losers: Gopichand not good enough, really?
Trust a politician to hijack the Telangana government-sponsored grand welcome for PV Sindhu, one of the only two medallists from the country at the Rio Olympics 2016. And the honours were done by none other than deputy chief minister Mahmood Ali, who presided over the function.
The thumb rule, ideally, should be that when you do not know about a subject, discretion is the better part of valour. But perhaps excited by the unprecedented financial goodies showered on Sindhu by his government - Rs 5 crore as cash award, a plot of land and job offer - Ali decided that the Rio silver medallist should return with a gold medal from Tokyo in 2020.
The wish is absolutely fine but the problem is that he saw coach Pullela Gopichand as the hurdle in achieving that objective.
Ali said that the Telangana government is planning to "give proper coaching" to Sindhu so that she can fetch a gold medal the next time. In Ali's book, Gopi is good but perhaps not good enough to get a gold.
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| Mahmood Ali said that the Telangana government is planning to "give proper coaching" to Sindhu so that she can fetch a gold medal the next time. |
"The coach that she has now is also good but beyond that, we wish for her to get a gold from the next tournament," said Ali.
The second most important person in the Telangana government, at least on paper, has clearly spelt out what he thinks of Gopichand's abilities.
For those not familiar with Mahmood Ali, he is the same leader who, last August, said that even the Charminar in Hyderabad will be razed to the ground if it became dilapidated. He subsequently denied making such a statement even though it was recorded on camera.
When Telangana industries minister KT Rama Rao quipped at Sindhu's felicitation ceremony that "success has many fathers, failure has none'', he could well have been referring to his senior colleague in the Cabinet. Because clearly, the attitude seems to be that government money can buy anything, even a coach. For everything else, there is Mahmood Ali.
The statement slighting Gopichand has not gone down well with his admirers. Many of them took to social media to ask the minister to stay off. Some others compared him with Union sports minister Vijay Goel, who made a spectacle of himself getting into no-go areas in Rio with his entourage, without proper accreditation passes and posing for selfies with exhausted Indian sportspersons.
Another person asked Ali to undergo coaching to learn to speak properly.
Gopichand turned coach in 2003, after a successful innings as a player, having won the All-England championship - considered on par with the world championship - in 2001.
In the last decade, he has succeeded in making Hyderabad the cradle of badminton in India. The 160-odd players who train at his academy are the best talent in the country. Gopichand now has the distinction of coaching two Olympic medallists - Saina Nehwal, and now, Sindhu.
With seven male players in the top 100 from India, the country could look for medals even in the men's category at Tokyo 2020.
But controversy of this kind is not new to Gopichand, even though he tries to put his head down and stay out of trouble. Doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta had accused Gopi of conflict of interest in him being both national coach and running a private academy.
Gopi's contention has been that he was already running his academy when he was appointed coach in 2006, and it is for the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to answer that. But as far as BAI is concerned, there is no one with better credentials than Gopi to occupy that position.
In fact, Gopi's constant position has been that China is beatable and Rio has proved that. There was not a single Chinese women's player on the podium this time, the top three positions going to Spain, India and Japan, in that order. The badminton powerhouse of China has been effectively breached and Gopi-coached players like Saina and Sindhu have played a major role in ensuring that.
In fact, after the finals, gold medalist Carolina Marin walked up to Gopichand to hug him while he congratulated her. Such is his stature in the world of badminton today. But Ali's comment typifies the Indian mindset of ghar ki murgi, dal barabar.
Though Saina came undone because of an injury to her knee, she would be wondering if things would have turned out different if she had not split with Gopichand in September 2014. Her present coach Vimal Kumar indeed took her to the world number one ranking in 2015, but the Olympics loss would hurt.
Also the fact that Saina is having to stay away from home at the Bengaluru academy, is leaving her feeling homesick, and a mind that is not 100 per cent happy, is not the best state to be in.
Mahmood Ali should feel happy that Gopichand is also the secretary of the Badminton Association of Telangana, and in that capacity, can play a pivotal role in promoting the game in the state. Gopi's emphasis has always been on encouraging physical literacy and the need for everyone to stay fit and healthy.
At a time when there is a clamour for politicians to stay off sports by exiting sports bodies, Mahmood Ali's uninformed comment conveys the desire to meddle with a sport that is doing well and claim credit.
Telangana deputy CM would be well advised to help other disciplines with funds where the players may not even have well-trained coaches, leave alone the best in the world.
And leave the badminton court and the coaching to the professionals.