They are two of the finest champions we have had in Indian sports. It was no surprise that when P. Gopi Chand and Narain Karthikeyan gave an insight into their journey, it was spell binding for the audience in the World Summit for Ethics and Leadership in Sports on Friday.
The much decorated Gopi Chand, the national coach who has revolutionised Indian badminton, leading to glory at all levels including the recent Thomas Cup triumph, called it “a very blissful journey’’.
The Dronacharya and Arjuna awardee, who had won the All England Championships in his prime after going through three knee surgeries, Gopi said, “I got a chance to do what I wanted to do. I always counted my blessings. From outside, it may have looked hard work, but I never felt it as a challenge. At every step, I felt that the next step was possible”.
Narain Karthikeyan, the first from the country to drive in Formula 1, presented his example to advice young drivers and sports persons, “never take anything for granted”.
Narain recalled how he had missed a golden opportunity when he was 22, with a “stupid mistake”.
It was the F3 World Cup in Macau, when so much was at stake, and Narain was confident and at his best.
“At that time I thought that F1 was there in the next two weeks! I was in pole position. Was seven seconds faster. I had an incredible lap. I gave it all. I broke lap record five times. But, the fitness part, I had taken for granted. On lap seven, there was a slight lapse of concentration. It was street circuit. I had negotiated that bump hundreds of times, but on the same bump, I crashed on to the barrier, it was game over”, said Narain.
It hurt a lot, as Ayrton Senna in 1983 and Michael Schumacher in 1990 had moved to F1 immediately after winning the same F3 World Cup. Narain had to wait for five more years after that Macau race to make his F1 debut in Australia.
“Such a stupid mistake. It was very difficult for me. I had so many contracts, and people started pulling away. We live and learn”, said Narain, as he looked at the positive side and added, “if you really want it, you can do it”.
He did win the next race, but it did not matter, as the opportunity had been lost when all the teams were watching in Macau, hunting for talent.
On being a successful coach, Gopi said that he just turned the mirror from himself after he took to coaching and started asking himself, “whether it is good for the player”.
On talking to the players at the right time, Gopi said,”when you talk to the players after they win, they talk with confidence”.
When sought for advice for youth, Gopi said, “We don’t know how far we can go. So, give it the best shot”.
Narain said that his example would help others to have the confidence to venture into F1.
‘’Aim big, dream big. You will get there some day”, he said.
A host of others, including Yogeshwar Dutt, Akhil Kumar and Bilquis Mir, made interesting points. The president of All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kalyan Chaubey, pointed out that with government collaboration, and FIFA, the world body giving one million footballs, the game was being made accessible to millions of students across the country.
“We would not have had the expertise to distribute those footballs. With government and Navodaya Schools, we can benefit 26 crore students”, said Chaubey.
