“He never put any sort of pressure on me”: Gayatri Gopichand is an Arjuna Awardee today, but behind it all was a father and a Badminton legend who let her enjoy the game

On August 18, 2026, Gayatri was named a recipient of the distinguished Arjuna Award.

Indian badminton participant Gayatri Gopichand has added one other main milestone to her profession. On August 18, 2026, Gayatri was named a recipient of the distinguished Arjuna Award, alongside her girls’s doubles associate Treesa Jolly. Whereas she is at present enjoying on the BWF World Championships 2026 and in competition for a medal, the achievement can additional change into extra particular. For a participant who grew up with considered one of Indian badminton’s greatest names as her father, the achievement comes with an attention-grabbing story. It isn’t nearly success, however about how she was raised.Being Pullela Gopichand‘s daughter might simply have meant dwelling beneath fixed expectations. In any case, her father is a former All England champion and considered one of India’s most revered badminton coaches. However in accordance with Gayatri, he by no means made his achievements her burden.

In an interview with RevSportz, Gayatri was requested what it was like rising up with the Gopichand surname and whether or not she felt the strain that got here with it. “He is by no means put any kind of strain on me. Such as you mentioned, he all the time tells me, ‘Should you retire right now, I am actually proud of what you’ve got achieved,’” she mentioned.She recalled a second after her successful the title on the Syed Modi Worldwide match that maybe explains her father’s strategy higher than any recommendation might. “Even right now once I met him, he hugged me and he mentioned, ‘I am hugging you as a result of I’ve missed you, it isn’t since you received.’ So yeah, there is no strain as such.”For Gayatri, that distinction seems to have mattered. Her father’s precedence was not merely producing one other champion. It was ensuring his daughter remained joyful whereas enjoying the game. “He all the time needed me to be joyful and that is what he is all the time advised me, simply get pleasure from. So I’ve all the time loved enjoying badminton,” she mentioned.

Rising up with a badminton legend as a father

Gayatri together with her father Pullela Gopichand.

Gayatri began enjoying badminton when she was simply 5. However as a baby, she didn’t absolutely perceive the importance of her father’s achievements. Pullela Gopichand had received the All England Championships in 2001, two years earlier than Gayatri was born. Her mom, PVV Lakshmi, was additionally a distinguished badminton participant and an eight-time nationwide singles champion.Badminton, subsequently, was very a lot a part of the household. However having two completed dad and mom additionally meant that Gayatri was rising up in an surroundings the place folks knew her surname earlier than they knew her sport. That strain was seen to her father too.When Gopichand was requested in regards to the challenges of elevating a star child, he acknowledged that Gayatri was being watched extra carefully than different younger gamers at his academy.“She is mostly fairly shy and he or she form of works on her personal in some sense,” he mentioned. He additionally identified that she had received a number of tournaments on the age-group degree, whereas additionally going by means of tough losses.For him, nevertheless, the larger problem was the eye surrounding her. “She’s within the academy, all people is watching her. I am watching. It is all the time eyes on and the coaches are form of her slightly in another way,” he mentioned.Gopichand admitted that he could by no means fully perceive what his daughter skilled. “I do not suppose I’ll ever be capable of do justice to what she has gone by means of,” he mentioned, whereas including that the household tried to guard her and repeatedly advised her that the eye didn’t matter.However he additionally understood that telling a baby to not really feel strain doesn’t essentially make the strain disappear. “In her thoughts, in all probability it does,” he mentioned.

The daddy-daughter relationship was not nearly teaching

One of many extra revealing components of Gopichand’s account is that his relationship with Gayatri didn’t revolve totally round technical badminton recommendation.He mentioned he had earned the belief of a number of gamers he coached, together with the likes of Prannoy and Satwik, who adopted his recommendation even when it didn’t instantly appear logical. With Gayatri, that belief existed too. “I have been very lucky. Whether or not it is Prannoy or Satwik or anybody, a lot of the gamers have had blind religion in me and it is the identical with Gayatri as properly,” he mentioned.However there was an necessary distinction. Gayatri might query him. “She will be able to categorical it again,” he mentioned, explaining that as a result of he spent extra time together with her, she would focus on issues with him and reply to his recommendation.

From being Gopichand’s daughter to creating her personal identification

Gayatri is at present enjoying on the BWF World Championships 2026

Gayatri’s achievements have steadily given her an identification of her personal. Along with Treesa Jolly, she turned the primary Indian girls’s doubles pair to achieve the semifinals of the All England Championships, 21 years after her father’s well-known singles triumph on the identical match. In 2023, after a victory at a match the Badminton Asia Championships, Gayatri spoke brazenly about what her father meant to her.“I additionally needed to attain one thing on this sport. My father is unquestionably my idol. I look as much as him and I simply wish to make him proud,” she advised the Khaleej Occasions.

Do not make your kid’s achievement the worth of your approval

For folks of younger athletes, teachers, dancers, musicians or youngsters pursuing any aggressive discipline, Gopichand’s strategy gives a helpful distinction. It’s to assist the kid’s ambition with out making your love conditional on the result.A baby who hears solely “Did you win?”, “What was your rank?” or “Why did not you carry out higher?” can slowly begin associating the exercise with parental approval. A more healthy query may be “Did you get pleasure from it?”That doesn’t imply dad and mom ought to cease anticipating self-discipline or onerous work. Gayatri’s journey clearly concerned each. It means separating effort and studying from the ultimate end result.Mother and father may attempt three sensible issues:

Most significantly, youngsters have to know that their place within the household doesn’t change after a nasty efficiency.