Paris 2024: Pramod Bhagat shares secrets behind ‘winning all the time’

There is nothing Pramod Bhagat will not do to improve his chances of winning a second successive Paralympic badminton gold medal at Paris 2024. Well almost nothing.

While he will happily play 100-point practice matches, sit in meditation for hours and take on brutal hill runs, one thing he will not do is see a sports psychologist. 

“When you are the best and you believe in yourself, you can do it and you don’t need a sports psychologist,” Bhagat said.

It turns out this view was born out of a meeting with arguably India’s most iconic sportsman of all-time. With less than six months to go until the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Bhagat takes us through a training regime that includes everything from football to yoga and of course, relentless smashing practice.

A week in the life of a Paralympic champion

The 35-year-old athlete is active at least seven hours per day, six days per week. Activities start at 8:00 with a three-hour session, before a break and the first of two afternoon blocks, which run from 13:00-15:00 and 16:00-18:00.

“One day we will be focusing on one stroke, one day it will be matches, one day we will just rally. Our coaches decide on a one-week training schedule that we follow,” Bhagat explained.

Three days per week the trio of sessions include gym work, while the rest are spent on the court or doing something wildly different.

“We play football, it helps us with footwork and reactions. It helps make us stronger,” said Bhagat, who is a Lionel Messi fan. “We swim to help develop our arm strength. We go on long runs each week to develop our stamina. Even hill runs sometimes, which I don’t like. They are very tough. 

“We play cricket, but that is normal (for Indians) we just enjoy that. It’s just for fun,” he added with a smile.

Before it is time for cricket there is recovery to think about.

“I do massage, ice baths, steam rooms and I do yoga also sometimes when I am feeling weak in my game. I also do some meditation,” Bhagat said.

All the above takes place in one of three academies. Bhagat lives in Orisa, in central eastern India, while his men’s doubles partner is down south and his mixed doubles partner up north. But despite all the differing delicacies on offer across those regions, Bhagat never gets to choose what fuel he is running on.

“We have a dietician,” he said. “We discuss the planning of all my food, what I eat when I am training, what I eat near to competition.” 

Preparing for the biggest stage

Things are a little different however when the Indian superstar, who is the reigning Paralympic, world and Asian Games champion, is preparing for a major event. Not only does he enter an intense training camp, but he also rips up his habitual schedule.

“We will only play matches, matches, matches and ‘multi’ (stroke drills where the coaches relentlessly feed shuttles to the same exact spot on the court),” Bhagat said.

“We just play and focus on our weaknesses. We play matches so we can improve our defending power so we never give up during matches even when we are tired. We play to 50 points (per game) or 100 points. If you play 100 points, then you can always give your best when it is (just) 21 points.”

At times, Bhagat, who contracted polio at age five that affected his left leg, also decides he needs time alone.

“When I am feeling low in confidence, I will discuss this with my coach and train on my own. The coaches allow me because it is good for me. It is really important for me before a big tournament, so I believe in myself,” he explained.

Training his mind

Bhagat also puts emphasis on strengthening his mental game. In the men’s singles SL3 final at Tokyo 2020, Bhagat was down early to British athlete and long-time rival Daniel Bethell, but he soon worked out that the windy conditions required a change of approach. 

Hitting everything flat and hard, the Indian was able to turn things around and win in straight sets. He had to dig even deeper in the 2022 Asian Games final, but again, despite being 18-13 down in the decider, Bhagat found a way.

These occurrences are no accident. Bhagat has long focused on improving his mental strength. For Bhagat, who grew up obsessed with cricket, this focus on training his mind remarkably enough all started through a meeting with arguably the greatest hero of India’s national game.

“I always think about Sachin (Tendulkar) and his sportsmanship and his behaviour. When I met him, his advice was on how to manage sport and family first, and then we discussed about conscious mind and unconscious mind, which has been really important in my career,” Bhagat shared.

“If you are conscious that means you can get lost, you can get scared about the game, the point, everything but if I am sub-conscious, I am just playing to enjoy - not thinking about the point, the game, then you should always play your best. Every point is meaningful if you are sub-conscious."

It is clear Bhagat believes in himself “100 per cent”. While he does not go down the traditional mental strength training programme of employing a sports psychologist, he is constantly working on it.

“I like to play with a cool mind. I don’t think about the point (I am playing) or whether I am in a semi or the final, I just enjoy my game. That’s my aim,” he said. “Then it’s easy to win.”