Gopi Chand donates Rs. 50,000 to ailing former coach

The Hindu

Hyderabad, 17 October 2010: India’s chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopi Chand as a token gesture of gratitude to one of his first coaches Nani Prasad, who is now battling for life in a private hospital in Delhi, announced here on Saturday that he would be contributing Rs. 50,000 personally towards medical expenses for the ailing coach.

 

“I spoke to the family members and thank God, Nani Sir is recovering and things are definitely improving. We all missed him when India was dominating the Commonwealth Games badminton in Delhi,” Gopi said. In a touching gesture at Gopi’s Academy this evening, all the CWG medallists in badminton stood up in solidarity to express their concern and promised all help for the coach now.

 

It may be recalled that Nani Prasad, SAAP coach who first spotted the spark in Saina Nehwal when the latter was introduced to him by her father Harvir Singh in 1998, was on deputation for the Delhi Games and has been working there for the last two months at the Siri Fort Complex, venue of the badminton competitions.

 

Commonwealth Games medallists (L-R) Ashwini Ponappa, Gutta Jwala, Saina Nehwal and P. Kashyap displaying the medals at a function in the Gopi Chand Academy on Saturday in Hyderabad.

 

“This girl will go to places,” Dr. Harvir Singh recalled were the comments of Nani when he saw Saina grip the racket for the first time. “In fact, all the players are also trying to pool in money to help his family as sense of gratitude,” Gopi said.

 

Interestingly, Mr. A. K. Parida, Principal Secretary to State Government, also spoke to Nani’s family members this morning and said the State Government is willing to spend any amount as a special case, brushing aside the rules which otherwise would mean Nani was eligible to get up to Rs. 2.5 lakhs as medical reimbursement.

 

Dronacharya S. M. Arif also announced that he would make sincere efforts to pool money for the ailing badminton coach.