Gave up game under family pressure but ended up getting Dronacharya award
LUCKNOW: Crediting the family for their success is common for achievers. Para-badminton coach Gaurav Khanna, winner of prestigious Dronacharya award this year, is no exception.
He, however, can’t stop thanking his family for cutting short his professional journey for a stable job even after managing good show at under-22 doubles at the state level.
“Had they not stopped me playing, I would not have become an inspector with the Railway Protection and perhaps would not have got the chance to meet the specially-abled street kids playing badminton around Hathras Railway Station where I was posted,” he remembers his foray into coaching.
In fact, this was the real kickstart to his journey in badminton coaching, and his regular interaction with those specially-abled kids brought him close to various people, including some in the Sports Authority of India and was named coach of the Indian deaf badminton team and later also coached the Asian deaf team.
“That was the turning point of my career as this generated extra interest in me towards coaching the specially-abled shuttlers and in 2014, I got the opportunity to work with the para-badminton players and this changed my life,” said Khanna, who also learnt sign language to communicate with deaf shuttlers.
“I wanted to become the national champion in sport, but got no support from family and even after becoming the state under-22 doubles champion with Meerut’s Ajay, I had to leave sport and look for other things,” he said, adding, “But I never lost my touch with game and playing badminton with deaf kids outside the Hathras station was the example of this.”
Khanna under whose tenure India won 319 medals since 2014 in para-badminton accepts the fact that para-badminton was quite scattered and no one was bothered about it.
It was he who accepted the challenge of creating a positive system and took the sport to new heights. “I kept counting on the success of the players and never felt frustrated as I had faith in my players and myself.”
Khanna’s dedication for parabadminton is such that even during the lockdown period he was found busy with a few of his Indian team players at self-made badminton court in the state capital. “Some of the players, including a probable Olympic candidate Palak got stuck here so we had to develop our own court in the backyard of our flat and kept practicing hard.”
A commando-turned-coach, Khanna, who brings on the court his passion, skill and dedication as he works tirelessly to nurture champions, accepts that scouting for youngsters, bringing them on court, developing and refining them to be professional athletes are a task. “I keep enjoying the company of my para-shuttlers and their own behavior keep me inspiring to continue my hard work,” said Khanna, who sees the different abilities of such players as no disabilities.
“Everyone has his or her own story and whenever I meet someone with any kind of disability, I try to know their story. Tragedy could happen to anyone. So we should not think of our self as very powerful just because we have every organ intact,” he said.
Khanna, who also has been an international umpire in sport, believes that a comprehensive sports policy in the state like Uttar Pradesh would help athletes win more laurels at the international level, including Olympics.
“We need to have a certain sports policy in the state and I am sure if we have it we can produce many international players, including Olympic medalists.”
The Yash Bharti awardee, Khanna also claims that he has plan to bring more gold at the 2024 and 2028 paralympics.