Meet the QPR superfan

Monday October 19, 2009

THEY say everyone remembers their first time.

For Gobi Ranganathan it was in March 1992, and the Hoops beat Norwich 3-1 at Loftus Road. Les Ferdinand scored twice, and has been Gobi's favourite Queens Park Rangers player ever since.

Superfan Gobi's devotion to the Rs - which includes travelling to as many away games as he can - is all the more remarkable as he has had spina bifida since birth. Mobility issues have not cramped Gobi's style, however.

At 33 he is the UK's No1 disabled badminton player. He's so good that, despite scooting around the court in a wheelchair, he's easily capable of beating able-bodied players.

Gobi, who uses a special souped-up £2,500 sports wheelchair for badminton, had been playing the game socially for years. Then he was talent-spotted by a coach at a Hertfordshire club.

"He gave me a try-out, and said I was good enough to play for the able-bodied side of the club," said Gobi.

Two years ago he represented England for the first time at a major tournament in Cardiff, and surprised everyone - including himself - by managing to lose all his singles matches while winning the doubles title.

Since April he has not lost a domestic badminton game in all four UK nations. His nemesis is the reigning world No1 disabled badminton champion, who kept Gobi in bronze-medal position at a big tournament in Germany in May, and defeated him again in the quarter-finals of a competition in Seoul last month.

As with most sportsmen, highways design consultant Gobi ends up funding most of his expenses himself, although his understanding employer, Pinnacle Transport, generously stepped in with sponsorship when the badminton star was on the brink of quitting because of spiralling costs.

Gobi drives to most QPR games - home and away - including the recent long haul to Newcastle.

"It hurt to be pegged back so late in the game," he said of the 1-1 draw with the Magpies. "And it had to be Marlon Harewood, didn't it! Mind you, if you'd given us a point before the game we'd have taken it."

Of QPR's chequered start to the 09/10 season, Gobi says that there are signs of good things to come, if the side can get on a scoring run.

Though not convinced about new manager Jim Magilton before the season began, he is warming to him.

"At the start of the season I wasn't even aware he was in the frame," said Gobi. "I was a little disappointed at first. Well, I wasn't overwhelmed! I did wonder if this was the man to take us forward, but historically his Ipswich side was always very difficult to beat at home."

He yearns for the moneybags men at the top of the club to dig a bit deeper into their seemingly bottomless pockets to fund a proven goalscorer.

"That's what we're missing," he said, adding that the Rs shouldn't really fear anyone after an overall top-quality performance at Newcastle. "There's no reason why we shouldn't get into the play-offs this season," he said.

Gobi, who lives in Stevenage, is well-known to other Rs fans through his regular column in the Hoops' match programme.

"With my disability I'd never have had the chance to play for Rangers, so to have some involvement with the club is great," he said.

If you see Gobi at an Rs game, give him a wave. He's always in Block X in the Ellerslie Road stand disabled area. You can't miss him. He's the one who could run rings round you on a badminton court!