Gopichand’s ‘first family’ hogs limelight

His parents make cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar perform pooja to Lord Ganesha

HYDERABAD: 28/08/2016:-What a proud moment for all women champs: Goodwill ambassador for Rio Olympics and Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar gifting brand new super luxury BMW cars to Rio Olympians – shuttler P.V. Sindhu - wrestler Sakshi Malik and gymnast Dipa Karmarkar as a token of appreciation for “outstanding contribution to Indian sportâ€Â, at a ceremony held at Pullela Gopichand academy at Gachibowli in Hyderabad on Sunday- Photo: Mohammed_Yousuf

For a change, the ‘first family’ of Gopichand — that is, his parents, his trainees being his ‘second family, — hogged the limelight at his Academy on Sunday for all the right reasons in the presence of one of India’s sporting icons, Sachin Tendulkar.

India’s chief national coach Pullela Gopichand’s parents – Subash Chandra Bose and Subbaravamma – have always been the force behind the former All England champion and more so when it came to setting up the world class academies at Gachibowli.

All those regulars to the Academies since its early days of construction, the sight of Gopi’s mother, often braving health issues, monitoring every aspect of the work was quite familiar, reflecting the complete commitment of the family.

And so when Sachin walked into the Gopi Academy for the presentation of cars to Rio Olympics medallists (P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik), gymnast Dipa Karmakar and Gopichand on Sunday morning, it was these proud parents who took the cricketing great to perform pooja to Lord Ganesha.

“Yes, today being Ekadasi, we decided to perform this pooja and request Sachin to be present along with the three girls from Rio,” Subbaravamma informed The Hindu .

Typical of the famous Hyderabad hospitality and warmth, the 62-year-old Gopichand’s mother, who was in Tirupati to offer prayers on Saturday, had suggested to his daughter-in-law Lakshmi Gopichand to purchase three gold chains with the ‘Rio Olympics 2016’ embedded on them.

“I was wondering what we should do when the girls visit our place. We have a rich tradition of making the girls comfortable at home and make their visit memorable,” she pointed out. Consequently, the three champion girls were presented gold chains by herself, Gopichand’s sister (Himabindu) and his wife Lakshmi.

The beaming face of Gopichand’s parents said it all. They enjoyed every bit of the morning function.

“He (Sachin) has not changed a bit in his attitude and mannerisms. He still remains the same simple human being. Reminds me a lot of Gopi,” she exclaimed even while gently pointing out that the youngsters have plenty to learn from the ‘Little Master’.