‘Don’t let your little one pursue sports activities except you’re wealthy!’: Pullela Gopichand – The Occasions of India

Hyderabad: One would count on nationwide badminton coach Pullela Gopichand to be overjoyed with the rising variety of kids taking on sports activities as a occupation, as a profession, as a lifestyle. However the former All England champion says dad and mom should assume twice earlier than letting their kids dream about turning into skilled sportspersons.
In a chat with TOI, the person who performed a key function in making India a badminton superpower, says, “I counsel dad and mom to not put their kids in sports activities. We’re not able to supply sports activities as a profession. Until the youngsters are from wealthy backgrounds or have a household enterprise, it’s not advisable for youngsters to take up sport.”
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His competition is easy. Only a few make it huge. Those that don’t break into the elite rung of gamers, lack the talents to outlive with out sports activities after they retire at round 30.
The Dronacharya awardee’s concern comes from initiatives like Khelo India, Prime Scheme, Go Sports activities, OGQ and corporates making sports activities extraordinarily enticing to kids. However there is no such thing as a security web to fall again on in case they fail to make it huge.
“The truth of sport is that lower than 1% of people that take up sport find yourself having it as a occupation or profession,” he says. “In sports activities like cricket, this quantity could possibly be marginally higher, however in essence sport would imply {that a} very small share of them make it. The place can we find yourself? What are the returns of the individuals who have made it?”

Sitting in his academy workplace in Hyderabad, a big glass window separating him from the enjoying
courts the place future champions are practising, he says, “Olympic medallists who work within the Railways, RBI, Revenue Tax, police or a PSU have a decrease rank than a civil servant who will get to reap advantages of his studying until the age of 60. The Olympic medallist who has burned himself out, should name the civil servant ‘sir’ or ‘madam’. They’re on the mercy of the officer, hoping they may have individuals who will respect sportspersons who gained medals for the nation. And you may additionally discover a boss with a destructive mindset in direction of sportspersons.”
He puzzled if those that represented the nation must be on the mercy of society the place
they might or could not get respect. “Consider what has occurred to tons of of people that have represented the nation within the final 20 years in varied sports activities, gained medals. The place are they right this moment? What’s their future? What’s their incomes capability?”
He offers the instance of sprinter Jyothi Yarraji – a 100m hurdles silver medallist from the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Video games – who has been making quite a few appeals for a correct job. Gopichand can be upset with how hockey stars like Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar and shooter Vijay Kumar have been handled after they achieved a lot for the nation. “Going by what they’ve completed for the nation, is that this the correct of reward they deserve?” he asks. “If that is so,
how can we encourage our youngsters to take up sport?”
Former hockey captain Mukesh Kumar informed TOI that even national-level hockey gamers should not getting jobs right this moment, a press release supported by Mukesh. “In our days, we used to get some job, however
now many high PSUs and banks have stopped recruiting hockey gamers,” he says. “The state of affairs is miserable.”
‘CREATE A SAFETY NET’
Gopichand believes that if we actually need to produce extra skilled sportspersons, then society should create a security web round them. “To outlive, these sportspersons additionally want different abilities. Like spoken English presentation abilities, and extra importantly, a motivation to do one thing completely different as soon as they retire. Typically, simply the motivation is lacking,” he stated.