Pullela Gopichand

Pullela Gopichand was born on November 16th 1973, in Nagandla in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, India. His parents Pullela Subhash Chandra Bose and Subbaravamma were both interested in sports and hence supported him to pursue a career in sports and make his country proud. Gopichand is indeed a story of sheer hard work, dedication and pure determination for the game of Badminton.
Gopichand was a cricket enthusiast and thus wanted to pursue a career in the same but his elder brother made him switchover to Badminton. Gopi's skill at Badminton was the talk at St. Pauls where he had his schooling, when he was hardly around 10 years old.

In 1986, he suffered a multiple ligament rupture which was threatening to his career. But this young fighter from Andhra Pradesh came back to the field with sheer determination and reached the finals of State Junior Badmintonship in 1987. By the time he passed out of school in 1988, he had already made a mark in the Badminton field. He did his graduation in Economics from AV College, Hyderabad.

In 1989 he won his first single title at the National Championship at Goa and then went on to win the doubles championship also. He received the SAARC gold medal the in 1999.

Always a fighter, he refused to be crushed by his defeat in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and true to his recognition out played the Olympics champions to reach the finals of the All England Badminton ship, finally arriving at the forefront of international badminton. He defeated Olympic Gold medalist Anders Boeson in the Quarterfinals of this tournament. In the Semifinals he defeated world No.1 ceded player Peter Gade of Denmark, and in the finals he defeated Chen Hong of China. He achieved his career best world ranking of 5 in April 2001. Gopichand was awarded the 'Arjuna Award' India's highest recognition for sportspersons, in 2000 for his excellent performance in the sport.