The All England story is very important because it definitely changed my life. The win gave me recognition, but crucially, it was the foundation on which I could become the coach that I am and help build an ecosystem for badminton in the country.The training that helped me win the All England was actually leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!I lived like a monk. I trained at Sports Authority of India and Ganguly Prasad was my coach there. I spent hours meditating, manifesting and thinking I was going to win an Olympic medal. Even if you gave me another chance today, with all the knowledge I have, I don’t think I could have prepared or worked harder than I did that day. Unfortunately, I lost the Olympics early because after three knee surgeries – in 1994, 1996 and 1997 – my body was not the same. It couldn’t handle the long and strenuous playing on the concrete floor in Sydney. After the three set against Vladislav Druzchenko, my body had no energy. My whole body was swollen and my knee was swollen like a golf ball. Things were very sad after the Olympic failure. I was like a zombie, I didn’t know what to do, but somehow I was drawn to work, but without expectations. It was with this kind of mindset that I went to the All England 2001. We started on Saturday from Bangalore, but halfway through our drive to the airport we heard that our visa was still pending and that we had to return on Monday.We took a very circuitous route to collect our visa in Delhi.Then we had a long journey from Delhi to Bandar Abbas in Iran, Frankfurt and Birmingham – we started on Monday morning and arrived on Tuesday evening. At the time the All England draw was 64 players (now 32) and we were still playing on concrete. We had two games on the first day, Wednesday and two games on the second day. Although I won in two matches, I had to go through a lot of stress. Fifteen points was tiring and the concrete floor wasn’t helping. We didn’t have a physiotherapist or a nutritionist. My meal was roti, daal paalak and chicken at the same restaurant all week. After the games, I lay on the ice once in the physical therapy at the stadium and then in my room.The matches took a toll on my body and with a lot of swelling I still managed to win. The biggest relief after the title was that I didn’t have to go through the pain the next day. To recover and plan a match, I think it’s purely God’s grace. I was fortunate to have Dr. Ashok Rajagopal and the solid support of my team which consisted of Ganguly Prasad and Mr. Le Roy D’Sa.(As told to Manne Ratnakar)
