This soft-spoken 27-year-old Bangalorean is ready to wear the shoes of his
master, the legendary Prakash Padukone, who also hails from Bangalore.
Currently ranked 10th in the world, he was unlucky to go down fighting at the
Olympics in Sydney to the 2nd seeded Indonesian Hermawan Hendrawan in the third
round. Gopichand had defeated Ukraine's Vladislav Druzchenko 15-3, 10-15, 15-7 inside an
hour in the second round. |
Notwithstanding Sydney, for Gopichand 2000 has otherwise been a great year.
With wins in the Toulouse Open, the Scottish Open and the Asian Satellite Open, two Grand
Prix finals and a stellar performance at the Thomas Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur, Gopichand
has been on a roll.
It was after a long stint that India had entered the Thomas cup finals, which India
eventually lost even after Gopichand’s well-deserved victory against the South Korean
Seung - Mo
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The Arjuna award conferred on him this year was the culmination of his
achievements.
On winning the prestigious award he said, " I am very happy about it because not
many badminton players have won it I have worked very hard for it, and I am very happy."
Gopichand is presently employed with IndianOil and is a four time National Champion and
SAARC award winner.
For the Badminton fraternity of India, he is the new hope to stake India’s claim for
the No.1 slot, which has yet to come our way since Prakash Padukone clinched it after a
win in the All England and World Badminton Championships way back in 1980. |
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