“I see players fail, my heart goes out to them,” Pullela Gopichand’s impassioned plea for Indian sport on ANI podcast at 5 PM

New Delhi [India], February 25 (ANI): India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand’s candid advise to children in India to pursue a career in sports only if their family is financially well off has sparked off a debate on the harsh realities of Indian sports.

In an exclusive interview with ANI, he shared his deep concerns about the future of athletes in the country, questioning the lack of financial security and long-term vision in sports administration.

“I see players fail day in and day out. My heart goes out to them,” Gopichand told ANI, highlighting the struggles of athletes who dedicate their lives to the sport but find themselves without jobs or financial stability.

“Today, when I see national champions, when I see Commonwealth medalists, when I see Asian Games medalists not having jobs, and that starts to pain me that what is the future they have? But I know out of the hundred people, one might make it. So where is the safety net? And that’s all I’m concerned about,” he added.

Addressing the ongoing debate on government jobs for athletes, Gopichand dismissed it as a short-term fix.

“Jobs are not the answer. Skill them, educate them, handhold them,” he asserted, stressing the need for sustainable career planning beyond the playing years.

When asked whether bureaucracy is failing Indian sports, he pointed to a systemic flaw, “Because people come for short term. Their thought is next Olympics. Their thought is short, short, short. And this is a long-term issue. This needs to be addressed. At 35, when you’re all the same age, you’re probably better than them, you have a bigger car than them, it doesn’t hurt. But at 50, when you’re telling your kid, I am an Olympian, he’s like, what are you talking about? You haven’t earned anything. You don’t have any respect. Your officer is calling you, sir, what do I do? Every time you have to…do that to an officer, then it hurts you and that hurt will stop the next generation from taking up sport.”

Drawing a parallel between athletes and army personnel, he pointed out the stark contrast in post-career support systems, “For me, we are like army men in some sense. When we are playing, we have supreme discipline, a very high motivation, and a purpose and a goal which is very big. When we finish our careers, we end up finding no motivation in what we have to do. At least the army man has the army who takes care of them. At least the army man has passed his prime age and probably at 40s or 50s he is retiring. But as a sportsperson who retires in his 20s, I think we need proper exit routes to ensure that we have a life of dignity, which is supremely important. My ask is only this.”

Gopichand has reached the pinnacle of his sport winning the All England championship in 2001 and then coaching the likes of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to Olympic glory knows what it takes to make it in sport in India. His unfiltered take now raises tough questions about India’s sports ecosystem.

Catch the full interview today on the podcast with Smita Prakash at 5:00 PM on ANI’s official YouTube channel.