Of dreams, guts and glory

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Two young men from different eras of Indian sport were consumed by an overpowering passion to be the best in their respective fields. They dared to dream and fought to achieve it.
At 13, Abhinav Bindra decided winning an Olympic gold would be his calling in life while years earlier, Pullella Gopichand had just one dream — to beat the Chinese at their own game, when he was yet to turn 18 and when China’s hegemony in badminton was at its peak.
Those were not mere boyhood dreams. What they also had was a burning desire to succeed. One turned out to be India’s only individual Olympic gold medallist till date while the other not only fulfilled his ambitions of beating the Chinese shuttlers, he went on to be crowned the All-England champion.
On a salubrious Wednesday, the two stalwarts, achievers and role models like none other, shared their stories of success and failure in equal measure with 83-odd budding stars at the GoSports Foundation Athletes’ Conclave, in the city.
“I was still 13, when I saw the wonderful Jaspal Rana at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. My sister swears I told her then that I would win an Olympic gold for India then. For the first time in my life, I had dedicated myself, committed myself to something, and as I spent more and more time shooting, I found myself fascinated by the sport,” revealed the 30-year-old, who also spoke about his growing up days when he hated physical activity and worked hardest at bunking Physical Education classes at school.
After the summer of 2008 glory, came the 2012 failure, but for Bindra there was success in failure too.
“The London Olympics were a failure as far as the result was concerned, but I count it as one of the victories in my journey of growing as a sportsperson. I am learning more, getting better, readying myself for Rio in 2016. Today, I know there will be roadblocks, but the only way is around them.
“And I am determined to find a way, a solution to overcome them. I have dug my feet in and decided that victory is mine. When the next win will come, I don’t know. But victory is more than winning,” were his pearls of wisdom to the rapt youngsters.
National badminton coach Gopichand said it was criticism and failure that pushed him to excel.
“If somebody told me I was a failure, I would push myself harder. Also injuries made me love the sport. In 1991, when I went for my maiden international tournament as a junior to Kuala Lumpur, I was the youngest in the team and I told people I wanted to beat the Chinese. They all laughed at me, but I did not stop dreaming,” said the 39-year-old.