Young shuttler making waves
Gopi Raju selected for World Junior Championship
Gopi Raju, young shuttle badminton player from Repalle, not only shares
a common first name with another illustrious player from the State
Pullela Gopichand but is planning to emulate the star player.
Young Gopi, whose raw talent was first unearthed on the cement badminton courts
in a multi-purpose function hall at Repalle and later nurtured at Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, is now blossoming into a fine prospect, thanks to the support
he has been receiving from MCA, an NGO based at Repalle.
Currently ranked No. 7 in singles and rank No 5 in the ranking by the Badminton Association of India, Gopi Raju will be competing with the best players in the world circuit when he takes a shot at the Badminton World Federation World Junior Championship to be held at Taipei, China in the last week of October.
"We first noticed Gopi, whose father is working with us, helping the players as a court-side boy,'' says secretary of MCA and Repalle based physician, V. Prakash Rao.
Dr. Rao said support from MCA member Radhakrishna, coaches Pullela Gopichand and Chandravadana and president of the AP Badminton Association Punnaiah Chowdary and Kode Durga Prasad was a source of great encouragement to Gopi.
Seeing that the boy had immense potential with fast reflexes and excellent hand-eye coordination, the MCA enrolled him in the academy run by the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh in Tirupati, where Gopi honed his skills under badminton coach, Chandravadana.
Winning streak
After completing Class 10, he was enrolled in PGBA - Gopichand Academy, Hyderabad.
Gopi has since then never looked back and his winning streak in various district,
State and national champions in the junior-level has come in for praise from badminton circles.
He is currently Under-19 boys doubles winner and singles runner-up in the
All-India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament held at Dharwad (Karnataka) recently.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/article2472307.ece
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