Badminton sport is gaining a lot of traction thanks to PV Sindhu, who has won an Olympic silver medal for India. Soon, the focus moved onto her coach - Pullela Gopichand. Well.. of the entire buzz going on with our badminton players delivering star performances, much credit should be given to the man less known to the outside world - Ganguly Prasad. This man had served as the badminton coach for more than seventeen years. Ganguly Prasad who hails from Eluru, now resides in Bangalore and works as an advisor for Badminton Advisory Committee. After all these years of hard work, he received “Dronacharya” award this year from the hands of our President.
Prasad garu played a major role in Pullela Gopichand becoming the Champion in 2001. From 1998 tournament to 2001 tournament, he worked as the coach for Gopichand. Besides Gopichand, Aparna Popat, many players who were trained under Prasad garu have won many National and International awards and medals. When Gopichand won the championship in 2001, Government of AP honoured Coach Prasad by awarding him with cash prize. He worked as the senior coach for Three World Championships straight.
Later on, he was appointed for the Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament last year. Prasad garu was initially reluctant to take up the job as Hockey was entirely a new sport to him. But later, he has nicely settled into his new job and has gained the players’ confidence in quick time. The manner in which India fought with a supremely fit South Korean team in the Asia Cup was proof enough. His work was much praised by many players and appreciated his capabilities as a worthy trainer. He feels that each sport requires different kind of fitness training and the secret to success lies in knowing the fitness levels of individual players and train them accordingly.
Though he moved to Hockey, his love for Badminton remains the same. He wishes to train the badminton players along with his hockey players to make both of them motivated. This man with much dedication and hard work is surely a deserved person for the awards and rewards he received. Thanks to the success your student, you are truly an invaluable source of motivation sir!
