Pullela Gopichand

Pullela Gopichand is an Indian Badminton player, and is famous for achieving the highest level of success in International Badminton after the legendry Prakash Padukone. Barring Prakash, Gopichand has been the only Indian Badminton player to have won the prestigious All England Badminton Championship.He was born on the 16th of November 1973 at Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh to Pullela Shubhash Chandra and Subbaravamanna. Initially Gopichand was more interested in playing Cricket, but later his elder brother Rajashekar initiated him to take up the game of Badminton instead.

He studied at the St. Paul’s School, and even at an early age of 10 years his prowess in the game of Badminton had become an issue to be discussed in the School. Gopichand suffered a ligament rupture in the year 1986 when he was just 13 years old, although he had won the Singles and the Doubles title at the Inter School Competition the same year. Undeterred by the injury, he bounced back soon and reached the Final round of the Andhra Pradesh State Junior Badminton Championship, only to lose the title to his own elder brother.

By the year 1988, when he finished his schooling, Gopichand had made a mark for himself in the Badminton circuit. Further, he joined A.V. College, Hyderabad to receive a degree in Public Administration. He was the Captain of the Indian Combined Universities Badminton team in the year 1990 and 1991.The proudest moments of Gopichand’s lifetime arrived in the year 2001, when he recreated the history by winning the prestigious All England Badminton Championship at London.

In the Championship, he defeated Olympic Gold Medallist player Anders Boeson in the Quarter-Final round, while in the Semi-Final round he beat the World No. 1 Peter Gade of Denmark. Finally, he outperformed the talented Chen Hong of China by 15-12, 15-6 to lift the coveted title, and to achieve the feat that had been accomplished by only one Indian till then, the legendry Prakash Padukone.

To commemorate his excellence performance as a Badminton player at the National and International level, and his exceptional services to the nation through the sport of Badminton, the Government of India honored Pullela Gopichand with the Arjuna Award in the year 1999. Further, in the year 2001 he was bestowed upon the greatest Indian award in the field of sports, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. In the year 2005, he was conferred upon the Padma Shri award.