Gopi hopes to barge into Top Three

And now he has been voted as the best international player of the year in a poll conducted by the International Badminton Federation (IBF). In the latest IBF ranking, he is sixth in the world.

“It was a wonderful year for me,” Gopichand told TNIE in December. “I could get the opportunity to play in most of the major tournaments of the world and that gave me the necessary confidence.”

His best was in the Malaysian Open where he upset top seed Taufik Hidayat before he crashed out in the semifinals. He is a player to watch for the next two years. Thanks to his outstanding performances he has deservedly qualified to play in the Grand Prix final where the top 16 vie for the honours. “I had always dreamt of playing in Grand Prix final. It is a place where the players’ abilities are tested to the maximum. It is indeed an honour for me,” says the 27-year-old soft-spoken Hyderabad-based shuttler

National coach Syed Mohammad Arif believes that these two years will be crucial for Gopichand. “He is at the peak of his career. It is now or never for him. I’m happy with the way he is shaping. I always believed that he was going to be a world-class player. He needed that bit of international exposure and when he got the chance to compete with the best players of the world, he raised his performance level. The results are there to see,” says Arif, who has churned out more than 25 internationals from Andhra Pradesh in the last five years.

Arif feels that the key to Gopichand’s success lies in his fighting abilities and commitment to the game. “He never shirked from hard work. As a boy he climbed the ladder with solid foundation. It was through sheer grit that he could stay in the game when he suffered a serious injury in the 1994 Pune National Games. It required a major surgery to set his left knee right. No other player would have fought his way back to the top.”

On his comeback trail, Gopi won the first senior Nationals in 1997 and thereafter remained the undisputed champion in the country. He won the SAARC championship in 1999.

The Indian Oil Corporation officer has been the torch-bearer of Indian badminton after Prakash Padukone. The stylish Gopi, who plays an attacking game with the touch of Indian artistry, has still a few ambitions. He has a burning desire to be among the top three in the world. “It needs a lot of hard work. I know that to achieve that would not be so easy. I have to literally slog it over.” A willing learner, he could soon realise his dream.