Implementing our mission to get our students mentored by the best, The Sports School has associated with world renowned Indian Badminton Player and Coach Pullela Gopichand, who will be our Chief Mentor for The Sports School Badminton Academy. He will be mentoring the students with the vast experience and wisdom he has acquired over the years. In addition to that he will also be conducting exclusive camps for the students at The Sports School.

Pullela Gopichand is a former Indian Badminton player who at present is the Chief National Coach for the Indian Badminton team. He won his first National Badminton Championship title in 1996, and went on to win the title five times in a row. He also won two gold and one silver at the Indian national games, 1998. Internationally, Gopichand has represented India in several tournaments like Thomas Cup tournaments, SAARC badminton tournament, Commonwealth Games, Toulouse open championship, and Scottish open championship.

After retiring, Gopichand moved to coaching and has trained several badminton prominent Indian badminton players including Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap, Srikanth Kidambi, Arundhati Pantawane, etc. Saina Nehwal went on to win the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and P. V. Sindhu won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and became the first Indian to win the BWF World Championships. Gopichand also served as the official Indian Olympic Badminton Team coach at the 2016 Brazil’s Rio Olympic.

He received the Arjuna Award in 1999, the Dronacharya Award in 2009, and the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award in 2014.