Rio 2016: India's 1st badminton Olympian rediscovers love for sport

Indian badminton has improved by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years, more so since Saina Nehwal clinched India's only Olympic medal in the sport in 2012.

Four years ago, when Saina was giving her best shot at London, Dipankar Bhattacharjee was following her progress from the dormitory of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai, where he was pursuing his MBA.

Bhattacharjee who?

Well, the 44-year-old is a two-time Olympian who was part of the Summer Games when badminton was introduced into the quadrennial mega event in 1992 Barcelona. He was considered a very stylish player in his hey days, a contemporary of Pullela Gopichand and Saina's current coach U Vimal Kumar. He is also the only male Indian shuttler to participate in two Olympics till date.

A spate of injuries ended his playing career, so much so that he cut himself off completely from the sport that has been his life. After the 'disappearing act' in which he got back to academics, Bhattacharjee has gone back to his first love, coaching kids including his 11-year-old son Anirban at the Ramsheth Thakur International Sports Complex in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai.

Ask Bhattacharjee what it meant to be the first Indian badminton Olympian and he attributes it to "divine intervention".

"It was a great feeling to be in the Olympics. It came as a God-send for all the hard work I was putting at that time. Badminton was introduced and I got selected. I consider it as a divine thing happening all at once. At one point, I was in a dilemma whether to pursue academics or sports. When I did well in the junior level, I pursued sports. I consider as a divine intervention," says the native of Guwahati who is currently employed by Indian Oil in Mumbai.

Bhattarcharjee does not consider himself very religious but believes that "someone on top is designing your destiny". "Of course, you have to work hard. We need to keep calm and keep doing our duties," he says.

Bhattarcharjee regards his 1992 Barcelona Olympics as a more memorable one than Atlanta 1996, for which he pipped Gopichand for the men's singles slot.

"In 1991, we had a Chinese coach (Wang Xiaoming). He changed our perspective of the game. We ended up spending more time on the court, playing, practicing, skill training and the movements. We were physically fit but in terms of executing strokes, we were lacking. The Chinese coach changed all that. There was a greater motivation under the Chinese coach. Preparing well, playing in all international tournaments, getting world ranking under him culminated in me getting selected for Barcelona. Everything changed for the better," Bhattacharjee said, not failing to mention the "divine intervention" again.

The three-time national champion overcame Bulgaria's Ivan Ivanov and Austria's Hannes Fuchs in his first two rounds but bumped into then world No. 1 Zhao Jianhua in Round 3.

"Against Jianhua, I felt I played well, extending the rallies, returning his smashes. I did not have anything to lose and played freely against him," he says.

Besides participating in the Olympics, one unforgettable moment for Bhattacharjee is when he met Linford Christie the morning after the British won the 100m gold.

"Getting to meet all the other top athletes, seeing them train, the focus of each athlete towards winning the medal gave me the feeling that I was at a centre of excellence.

"As Vimal and I were coming out of the breakfast hall the morning after Christie won 100m gold, we took photos with him. He was all by himself, he was in such a great mood and put his arms around our shoulder," Bhattacharjee recalls.

His second, and last Olympic appearance, did not go well, though.

"I expected to do much better in 1996. But, the run up to the Olympics was not as great as in 1992. I had a series of injuries in 1995, keeping me away from the circuit for almost a year. I recovered, came back and won the national title, played in Thomas cup and the European circuit. From 200, my ranking came to 42, moving ahead of Gopi. That, in itself, was creditable for a short time. The injuries persisted.

"The preparation was not great going into Atlanta. The Chinese coach was not with us anymore. We were training on our own. I was attending PVV Lakshmi's matches (women's singles) and, she attended mine. I was attending the coaches meeting, managers meeting. The focus was not on the game. As a result, after a first-round bye, I lost to Indonesian Arbi Hariyanto (in second round)."

It was shortly after Atlanta that Bhattacharjee began to fade away.

"I took a break after the Olympics, played the 1997 nationals and finished runner-up to Gopi. I was hit with injuries on my knee, lower back and shoulder at the same time," says Bhattacharjee.

He cursed the lack of knowledge about sports medicine in the Indian system then. "Today, having gone to several experts, I came to know that most of the lower limb injuries originate in the back. Back then, we did not have knowledge. We were treating the injuries locally without knowing the real cause. Unlike today, we were not exposed to the best of sports medicining at that time. That's why we could not recover from extreme training," he says.

Bhattacharjee recalls the intense rivalry between him and Gopichand. "We were trying to outdo each other. Such was my rivalry (on-court) with Gopi. As I was training harder, there was no back-up for recovery. I used all the traditional, conventional methods but nothing worked," he says.

There was not one place that he missed visiting in search of his treatment. "I was going to different places. Delhi, Sports Authority of India in Bangalore, doctors in hospitals, or one of the orthopaedics. I was so desperate to recover from injuries that I even visited Kerala for Ayurveda massage.

"That took me away from circuit. After the 1997 nationals, I lost in the semifinals in 1998, which Prakash Padukone said I should not miss. After that I said, 'enough is enough'. I went home to Guwahati. There was a sudden change in my aspirations, I wanted to get back to academics," he says.

Bhattacharjee began to realise that something was missing in his profile. His priorities changed, family matters took precedence and in pursuit of his career goals, cracked the CAT and joined the Jain institute in Mumbai for MBA at the age of 40.

He did not feel old among his batchmates. In fact, when his mates discovered that there was a two-time Olympian in their midst, his stature grew. "We used to have weekly lectures where we spoke on our area of expertise. I spoke on badminton," he says, recalling his MBA days.

During his time in Guwahati, an attempt to run an academy did not go the distance. His work commitments did not allow him time to coach. He was even posted to Durgapur, the steel city in Bengal, that had no badminton court.

But all that changed when he asked his employers to transfer him to Mumbai so that he could slowly get back to the sport that has given him a name.

Today, Bhattacharjee devotes his time between work and coaching in Ulwe. Though he has not really set his sights on producing future Olympians, he is happy to impart the knowledge that he has gained over the years.

"Badminton is a different sport today compared to my time. Today, you have so much of support. If Saina's going to a tournament, she has a full team going with her. She gets the right kind of treatment in case of injuries. She has former national champion and Olympians helping her to reach where she wants to reach," he says.

He gave full credit to Gopichand for taking Indian badminton to its heights today. "After winning the All England title, he immediately decided to take up coaching, setting up the infrastructure in Hyderabad that we could not imagine in our time. That has given Indian badminton a major thrust," he says.

For someone who has benefited from the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, who has seen how Gopichand's academy produces stars on a regular basis, Bhattacharjee is keen to give back to the sport.

For the moment, though, he is content with his office commitments, academy in Ulwe, encouraging his son into the sport and also enthusiastic kids at his academy. And, he is in touch with all the latest in the sport besides calling up his one-time contemporaries just to catch up.

Bhattacharjee's take on India's Rio badminton contingent

Kidambi Srikanth: He can make a few upsets. He is capable of going to the top

Saina Nehwal: I am hoping she is going to change the colour of the medal

PV Sindhu: She is also a contender for medal. On her day, she can be the best if she can keep her temperament

Men's and women's doubles teams: The doubles teams are also good but I would bet on the three singles players and focus on them