Parupalli Kashyap is a 2014 Commonwealth Games champion. (Express Archive/Pavan Khengre)
by Parupalli Kashyap (2014 Commonwealth Games champion, Chief Manager at Indian Oil corporation)
People say Pullela Gopi Chand is a ‘blessed coach’ who got lucky coaching “great athletes” and only wants to train rich kids now. But did they help when he ran out of money for shuttles to coach us, U13s and U16s, in 2007? Ignoring ‘family time’ after a week of 4 am training, he literally offered himself up on Sunday mornings to spar and network with bureaucrats, politicians and other ‘important’ folk only so that they were convinced he was worth backing. This, after being an All England champion.
I’m very privileged now, and insanely lucky, that his academy started at that time, and none of us paid him a single rupee in the early years to make us champions.
I’ve had my differences with him but will never forget he handed me USD 400 from his own pocket as ‘expenditure’ to travel to the Indonesia Open, because times were bad for me. The choice between academics and sport is real.
I was 18 in 2004, and sitting with my mother in a queue where they were allotting engineering college admissions on a sports quota. I had a National School Games medal, but was desperate for a job and getting good at badminton at the same time. We were in that line for an hour and half, watching Asian and World junior champions getting the top seats. It was my turn next to submit the form in my hand, and I’d get Mechanical Engineering at a second-tier college, but travelling to Gachibowli to train would have been impossible. I could see my badminton dream dying, so I told my mother ‘I’m not doing this.’
I had just realised the financial crunch my family was in – till 18, we had no whiff of it because my parents didn’t tell. Dad had lost money in business. Debt collectors came home, loans were huge, and cards had started defaulting. My mother was shocked. “How can you give up an engineering seat? What am I gonna tell your dad?” In the evening, I couldn’t say a word to explain the gamble I’d taken on badminton.
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After that, I lost the junior National final, and things got worse with no job. I’d been good at studies till Class 8 before badminton took precedence. But with a degree, I’d at least have got a software job.
Thank God, the academy started. All top players have never had to pay a single rupee to be coached. The results started to come. I had a girlfriend in Saina (Nehwal) who was focused, and a coach who taught us to win big. In December 2005, I joined Indian Oil, and with a 20K salary at first and 23K thereafter, I could take over the household expenses. But when I think back, it was a massive gamble.
Managing academics with sport is difficult, but players need to go through that grind – train on court and study. They have high energy, and can manage. The job scene is very bad – even Top-10 players like Treesa Jolly and Top-30 shuttlers Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila don’t have them. Having a fall-back in studies is important.
as told to Shivani Naik
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
