I don't have a problem with Salman Khan as Rio ambassador: Pullela Gopichand

Pullela Gopichand, India’s chief badminton coach, does not oppose Salman Khan’s appointment as a goodwill ambassador for the Indian Olympic contingent. “I don’t have a problem with Salman Khan being ambassador. He’s not the only ambassador, there are sportsmen in the list too,” Gopichand, 42, said at a felicitation of Indian Oil’s Olympic-bound athletes in Mumbai on July 15. “Whoever can contribute to sport is fit to be an ambassador.”

Sachin Tendulkar, Abhinav Bindra and AR Rahman are the other goodwill l ambassadors for India’s Olympic team. Gopichand, the 2001 All-England Open champion, will accompany India’s seven-member badminton team at the Olympics. The shuttlers were among the athletes who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function in Delhi a few days ago. Gopichand has met Modi a few times now, and on one occasion Modi tweeted a picture of their meeting with the caption, “Met badminton icon, Pullela Gopichand.” Asked what struck him about the experience of meeting Modi, Gopichand said, “The energy, the aura is something you cannot not feel. Before I met him, I would think, ‘Should I take on change?’ After you meet him, you realise that with positive thinking and energy a lot more things are possible. You dream bigger.”

Sport for all A few days ago, Gopichand and the long jumper Anju Bobby George were signed up for Khelo India, a government initiative to develop the sporting habit in the country. Government schemes may be well-intentioned, but sometimes lose steam. Gopichand, however, is optimistic about Khelo India.


Picture: Salman Khan (Facebook)

“With Swachh Bharat, LPG Give It Up and Yoga Day I do believe there is huge potential for government schemes to work,” he says. “Khelo India is a long process. Fundamentally it is looking at sport for all, taking sport beyond only organised sport. We will look at interactive ways in which we can make people play.”

Gopichand also has a biopic coming up, although currently he is too busy with the Olympics to give much time to the project. “I said okay to it because, for one, it is being made by people whom I have been closely associated with,” he says. “Secondly, I believe if I could do something in sports, anyone can. I hope it inspires people to take up sport. After the Olympics I will be a bit more involved with it.”


Picture: Salman Khan (Facebook)

Finicky about food Asked if there are biopics or documentaries he likes, he replies in the negative. Known as a principled man, Gopichand turned down a lucrative cola deal in his playing days on ethical grounds. To a question about the secret behind his discipline, he says, “I keep it simple. I do a few things and try to do them well.” He is as lean and youthful as in his playing days. “I’m on my feet eight to nine hours a day. So that itself is exercise,” Gopichand says. “I’m also finicky about my food habits.” What is the one diet rule he is uncompromising about? “No sugar,” he says. A few feet away, some guests help themselves to pastries from the high tea buffet.