Pullela Gopichand Reveals What He Told PV Sindhu After She Lost Olympic Gold in 2016

Pullela Gopichand at the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2023 in Bengaluru on Friday, revealed what he told PV Sindhu after she lost in the 2016 Rio Olympics final to Carlina Marin.

The chief coach of the Indian national badminton team Pullela Gopichand said he wanted Sindhu to think of it as winning the silver and not losing the gold.

“She loses the final and she is depressed, a little down. And there’s one photograph where I am actually holding her and telling her this. The words which I said were: ‘You had a great week, you had a great year of preparation for this. Don’t think of it as though you’ve lost the gold. Think that you won the silver’,” Gopichand said.

“And when you are on the podium I want you to have celebration for winning the silver and not thinking of it as though you lost the gold,” he added.

Sindhu, in fact, did end up smiling at the podium, Gopichand said: “That perspective is important. Sometimes in that moment when we have probably lost a big deal, we are thinking about what we have lost but to be even to be bidding for it or to be able to be present at the presentation as an entrepreneur that’s probably a stature that you actually have.”

Gopichand also added that is more difficult for his as a coach now than what he used to feel as a player.

“As a player you win once or lose once a day. As a coach you can lose seven or eight of them a day. I take things easily, take a step back and observe. God doesn’t give you what you want, he gives you what you deserve,” Gopichand said.

“Whenever I fall, I count with gratitude the things I have, than the things I’ve lost. That’s what keeps me going. The way I’ve seen badminton is that if I’m 70 percent as strong as the Chinese or Indonesians, I have 30 percent more brain power to beat them. Where we struggle is to get our system in place,” he added.