Personal excellence is what takes you to the top: Pullela Gopichand

Hyderabad, October 20, 2016: Pullela Gopichand day spoke about how the best results of his life are attributed to sheer hard work and personal excellence. The veteran Badminton player and Chief Coach of Badminton Association of India said, “There are no shortcuts to success. What I am talking to you today is not something that I read in books, but the lessons I drew from my personal experiences.”

Gopichand was addressing also employees at CDK Global for a Leadership Talk in Hyderabad today. The talk was attended by 400 associates of the organization – 200 in Hyderabad and 200 in Pune via live video conference.

After the talk Pullela Gopichand along with Reddy Malledi, Managing Director – CDK Global,and the senior leadership team unveiled the T-shirts for the forthcoming CDK Global Corporate Badminton League (CBL) to be held at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in the first week of November.

The mentor shared many personal experiences of his trials and tribulations of his journey. “My journey was very tough. I had my own share of injuries, particularly the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury. Nobody has recovers easily with thatkind of injuries. But, I bounced back within six months”, Gopichand told them. He quoted a friend who had advised him that – “no matter how many times you fail, get up quick, and get back to the sport", he remembered fondly.

“Another lesson that I learnt was to visualize about success. I went to the Olympics with that thought in mind. But, I couldn’t win in the Olympics. But when I went to subsequent tournaments without any expectations, I won. I was tested for my endurance. Finally, I got what I wanted to achieve. This taught me that you get success not when you want it, but when you deserve it”, he said.

The veteran Badminton player also shared the difficulties he faced when he was setting up the academy. “Corporate houses had funds for a lot of welfare activities but no funds for sports in those days”. I had to mortgage my home at Jubilee Hills to set up the Badminton Academy at Gachibowli. I asked for support from many organizations, but nothing worked out. I thank my family and wife for allowing me to mortgage our home for the academy. If we had not taken that risk then, we wouldn’t have the academy which you’re seeing today”.

Gopichand also spoke about taking risks to come up in life. “When I set up the academy it was a challenge. Each time you are confronted with a challenge, reinvent yourself. Whenever I had a problem, there were people to help me – my teachers and supporters. With their support, the academy has produced many top 20 ranking players today”, he said.

Towards the end he answered questions asked by the participants. On a question about how he identified talent, Gopichand replied, "If talent was that easy to be identified, we all would have focused on it. But it is not so. As a coach it is my continuous effort to identify talent and nurture it.”

“I believed in Sindhu’s ability as a player. As a coach, my job was to see that she continued her top performance always. I went prepared to the Olympics. I carried a blazer not to wear in Rio, but to wear on our return to the city. As a coach, if I hadn’t believed, how could I make Sindhu believe”, he said.

He closed his address with a powerful remark – “The more you know, the more you will realize what you don’t know."