Instead of lecturing the youth about significance of voting, we should strive to make it look ‘cool’ to them: Pullela Gopichand

After diligently carving out a bevy of badminton stars who made the country proud, Pullela Gopichand, today, has taken on a new challenge — to encourage the youth to take part in the electoral process. With the Telangana assembly elections set to take place on December 7, the chief national badminton coach has been urging students and first-time voters to exercise their franchise and contribute towards nation building through an initiative titled ‘No Excuses Day’.
“Rather than giving excuses for not going out and voting, students should find reasons to vote. The best way to connect and apprise youngsters about their responsibilities and duties is to speak in a language they can understand. Hence, instead of lecturing them about the significance of voting, we should strive to make it look ‘cool’ to them. And social media can be of immense help in this regard,” says the 45-year-old.
Acknowledging that awareness levels among the youth has heightened in the past few years, Gopichand says that it’s imperative to make discussions on elections a part of everyday conversations. “Nowadays it is very easy to gather information about politicians. I feel youngsters should take out time to do a little research on the candidates, their mandates and track record and then choose accordingly. They need to be clear about why they are voting for a candidate or not,” avers the Padma Shri awardee.
The conversation soon moved towards badminton. This year has been a tough one for Indian shuttlers and Gopichand is well aware of the fact. “With so many tournaments happening, we haven’t had the time to have proper training sessions. But our players have done considerably well and won medals too. For instance, Srikanth (Kidambi) is going great guns and has consistently reached quarter finals in a lot of tournaments,” says the 2009

Dronacharya Award

winner.
As a coach and mentor, Gopichand has been at the centre of the major overhaul in Indian badminton. When quizzed about the qualities of an exceptional coach, he says, “Not all good players can become good coaches. You need to have a lot of patience and should be able to analyse the game well. Every coach is different and has his own strengths.”