Never, perhaps, in the history of Indian sport, has any player displayed so much grit, stamina, skill and will to fight till the end, that too in a World Championship final, as PV Sindhu did in Glasgow. As they say, someone has to lose and it was Sindhu who had to on that day, leaving an entire nation grieving but admiring the inexhaustible passion and intensity she displayed against an unflappable Japanese opponent. At 22, when most are still figuring out the ways of the world, Sindhu may have already emerged among the most outstanding sportspersons India has ever produced.
While watching the badminton revolution that former champion Gopichand’s academy at Hyderabad has ushered in, the mind flew back in years and memories of the luminous Prakash Padukone surfaced all of a sudden. In a time gone back, when glory in sport in India meant mere qualification for a world event, Prakash had dazzled the world, attaining the World No 1 ranking and winning what was the most important prize of them all — the All-England Championship — in the eighties. I was a rookie reporter/deskman in Chandigarh, lamenting most of the time the pathetic state of Indian sport, as we do even now. Though, unlike now, when there are more instances of Indians doing well on the international stage, that was a time when an Indian world champion was unheard of.
Prakash, the soft-spoken gentle giant from Karnataka, was not an aggressive player but known for his subtle skills, deceptive drop shots and wristy flicks. He regaled the world with his legendary duels with the top badminton player of his time — Denmark’s Morten Frost Hansen. Though rivals on court, the two were close friends and Prakash benefitted by playing in Denmark that gave an aggressive edge to his game and helped him become the champion he eventually did. The humble Prakash may not mind being known today as film star Deepika Padukone’s father, but there should be little doubt that he is the original maestro, among the most outstanding athletes India has ever seen.
The bunch of potential world champions we see today in India have a legacy to fall back upon and Prakash, followed by Gopi, are the two stalwarts who set the world stage ablaze, much before the likes of Saina, Sindhu and Srikanth came along.
Gopi, who unfortunately suffered an injury which curtailed his ambitions of ruling the world after he won All-England in 2001, is still remembered for declining to endorse a cola product. Although huge money was on offer, he refused because his conscience did not allow him to promote a product not healthy for aspiring sportspersons. Today’s stars may feel he was being naive, but this story needs multiple retelling in a society where sportspersons take greater pride in being ranked in terms of the money they earn than the matches they win.
Prakash, who termed Sindhu’s final performance in the World Championship as the greatest ever by an Indian, and the likes of Gopi, are the ones we should salute for setting highest standards for others to follow. If we continue to grow in badminton at the pace we are doing, the time is not far off when the world would marvel at India, just as they did at the Indonesians and the Chinese. Indian badminton is at the cusp of unprecedented achievements that could well change the face of sports in the country.