On top of the world

If ever there has been a Red Letter Day in the lives of Parupalli Uday Shankar and Subhadra, it was on Sunday, when their son Kashyap won the historic gold medal in badminton at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. “We are on top of the world,” says Uday, while Subhadra adds, “I’m on Cloud Nine. I cannot measure my happiness.”

Sunday was the culmination of more than a decade-and-a-half of hard work, not only for Kashyap but the entire family; and the proud father cannot but reminisce their journey. “We had put in a lot of effort to ensure that Kashyap got to where he is,” says Uday.

“We are a middle-class family. For a child to achieve success in badminton, he has to have support from both of his parents. And he had to put up with a lot of initial disappointment. It is not as if he won every match he ever played. In fact, he must have lost around 90 per cent of his games in the initial phase of his career,” he adds.

Underscoring Kashyap’s determination to make it big, his father recalls how he had once turned down a seat in a top engineering college to pursue badminton. “His decision took everyone by surprise, but he was very clear on where he stood. And we stood by his side.”

Both Uday and Subhadra give full credit to chief national coach Pullela Gopichand. “While he had trained under Syed Mohammed Arif and later under Prakash Padukone, Kashyap truly realised his potential only after he joined Gopi’s academy in 2005,” Uday says.

Kashyap had picked up his first racquet when he was only five years old. “I used to work in Nigeria in the early 90’s,” says Uday, adding, “There, we had facilities to play badminton and that was when Kashyap developed an interest in the sport. He used to play alongside the adults. After we returned to India in 1995, we got him to train with Arif.”

While most sports lovers in the country were glued to their television sets on Sunday, Kashyap’s mother was an exception. She didn’t watch her son play. “I don’t watch his matches on TV at all. I follow them on the Web. I only catch a few glimpses of it every now and again. Call it superstition, but I don’t watch him play live,” she says.

“And it’s not as if I’m missing anything as his father keeps me updated with his commentary from the other room (smiles). But I do watch the last three points of his match, whether he’s winning or losing. And when he finally won the medal, I felt a mixture of joy and relief.” When Kashyap returns to India, it will be to a hero's welcome, for he has made his nation proud and his parents prouder.