Early Life
Pullela Gopichand was born on November 16, 1973 to Pullela Shubhash Chandra and Subbaravamma. Initially Gopichand was more interested in playing Cricket, but later his elder brother Rajashekar initiated him to take up the game of Badminton instead. He studied at the St. Paul’s School, and even when he was only 10, his prowess in Badminton was highly regarded at his School.
Gopichand suffered a ligament rupture in 1986 when he was 13. He had won the Singles and the Doubles title at the Inter School Competition earlier that year. Undeterred by the injury, he bounced back soon and reached the Final round of the Andhra Pradesh State Junior Badminton Championship, only to lose the title to his own elder brother. By 1988, when he finished his schooling, Gopichand had made a mark for himself in the Badminton circuit. He joined A. V. College, Hyderabad and graduated in Public Administration. He was the Captain of the Indian Combined Universities Badminton team in 1990 and 1991.
Gopi received his initial coaching from S. M. Arif before Prakash Padukone accepted him in the BPL Prakash Padukone Academy. Gopi also received training under Ganguly Prasad at the SAI Bangalore. Gopichand married fellow Olympian badminton player P.V.V Lakshmi on June 5, 2002. Lakshmi is also from Andhra Pradesh, home state of Gopichand.
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