Each match is a learning curve

Easily one of the world’s finest squash players of the present era, Nicol David of Malaysia, ever the humble type, would often say that each match for her remains an education, an occasion to learn more.

Coming from a World No. 1 that would sound strange. But that is what sports is all about, a never ending learning curve towards new frontiers of excellence. If Nicol knows she is good, nay the best in the world, then her aim is to keep ensuring that the talent she is gifted with, remains shining.

As Maj S. Maniam,the Consultant coach of the SRFI and the man who led the renaissance of Indian squash, puts it, “Once a player has strong basics in the sport then the aim should be to be consistent in the performance level backed by a strong self-belief.” True no player, not even a champion, can be infallible. Sport after all is much about chance.

A fairly easy drop may turn a stunning let down or a most difficult pick could end up being a breathtaking winner. Only, a champion player ensures the degree of winning-strokes remains high. Else, we would have had a flood of ‘Nicols’ or ‘Shorbaghys’! For, it is never easy to be on the high always.

Joshana and Kush rely on aggression

Among the top players in India, Joshana Chinappa and Kush Kumar are one of a kind, marked by their similarities in approach. Both are aggressive, can be unbeatable on their day but then can also fade away much against expectations. What they are high is in their self-belief that they are good and each time they enter the court, it would seem they taunt their opponent to beat them!

Their recent journey to Australia provided typical examples of their approach. Each enjoyed winning a title, but both showed that alone did not inspire better times ahead.

Kush didn’t capitalise after Tasmanian Open win

Consider Kush for instance. The former national junior champion, only just into the lanes of the professional circuit, showed the grit to make every match a winning one in the Tasmanian Open in Australia for his maiden PSA title. However in a tighter field in Melbourne in the Victorian Open, he burnt away too fast after promising much. He dislodged the second seed Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan in the very first round and that was no small achievement for only weeks earlier Saurav Ghosal had a tough time putting this Pakistani down.

Just when it seemed Kush was on course for an encore came Steven Finitsis, a senior pro but more importantly one, who like Kush, fights for every point and forced the Indian’s exit. At the much bigger settings of Australian Open, Kush had to come via the qualifying phase and the young man was found wanting there. However all the pluck and flourish ended in the very first round to the experienced eight seeded Rex Hedrick of Australia, who has eight titles under his belt.

A good beginning then proved half done for Kush in Australia but like Nicol, the Indian ace too would do well to take each outing as part of the learning curve. He can only get better from all this experience.

Annie Au was too good for Joshana

Unlike Kush, Joshana is a seasoned player who knows much of the tricks of the trade. Still, it is not often that this champion player comes really good. The Victorian Open gladdened many an Indian heart for the typical Joshana perfomance authoritative from the start. Seeded next to Rachael Grinham (Australia) and Line Hansen (Denmark), Joshana outdid the two.

Though she did not face Rachael, thanks to Christine Nunn (Aus) who beat her in the quarterfinal, the way she made short work of Nunn in the semis identified her as the potential winner. She proved that with another standout show against Line. However a week later on the same courts, Joshana lost the earlier touch. Atleast that was how it looked when she, as sixth seed struggled to get past the twelfth seeded Megan Craig of New Zealand.

The truth came when she was swept aside in the quarters by Annie Au, the champion from Hong Kong and the top seed. Joshana has beaten Annie before but this is a different player now, ranked 11 in the world and 16 rungs above the Indian. Joshna had feared it will be tough against Annie but a straight game loss in just over half an hour seemed a bit too harsh for her talent. Be that as it may, considering that among the Indians in the fray, Joshana and Kush, both products of the Indian Squash Academy, were the only ones to demand attention, they deserved plaudits.

What is more, Indian squash deserve players of such genre who make the sport exciting and at the same time give the assurance that no task is necessarily too tough. It is just the day!

source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / Sports Keeda / Home> SK Squash> Opinion / by Sharikal Raman / August 12th, 2015

The talk essentially gave an insight and a recap of the way these champions struggled through their formative stages.

It was an evening when four of the champion sportspersons – shuttlers Gutta Jwala, Ashwini Ponnappa, star cricketer Mithali Raj and Indian football captain Sunil Chetri – participated in a talk ‘India’s Potential as a Sporting Nation’ organised by the FICCI Ladies Organisation on Wednesday.

The talk essentially gave an insight and a recap of the way these champions struggled through their formative stages. Each one of them had a different story to tell, but one which clearly could prove to be an inspiration for all the budding young talent dream big.

“We owe our success to our parents. But for whom, we would not have been here. Fortunately, they only insisted that we train hard, stay positive and never put pressure on winning. So, effectively, we just enjoyed our game over the years,” said both Jwala and Ashwani.

“My career took off to a different level after 2009 when I started partnering Jwala for it gave me a stature in seniors’ category. We both play offensive game and complement each other pretty well. Importantly, the goals are the same for us – to bring laurels to the country,” chipped in Ashwani, to make a point.

Jwala felt that they were successful despite the lack of proper sports structure even though they were grateful to the Government of India for taking care of all their exposure trips. “But, we often feel there should be some accountability on this front and this is where the Associations disappoint,” the flamboyant shuttler said.

For his part, Sunil Chetri differed stating that All India Football Federation did what best it could to support the footballers cause. “I look at this way. You don’t plan to become a Jwala or an Ashwini or a Mithali. You have to change your style of preparations and keep changing your goals as the situation demands,” he pointed out to a query from the ladies. “It is imperative to love what you want to do,” he added.

Mithali recalled her struggle when many looked down at her in a male-dominated cricket. “In a way, I am lucky that my parents protected me really and set up a wall which could block all hindrances, emotions and let me stay focussed,” she said. “Yes, I would love to see Inter-schools cricket for girls to nurture future talent,” she remarked. She revealed that she was actually coaxed to play cricket being a ‘lazy girl’ as the parents wanted her initially to give company to her brother who played Grade II level cricket.

And, all four star athletes were clear India needs a sports structure. “We need a system to take care of core areas – training, exposure and proper monitoring. It is always easy to say India fails to produce even a couple of world or Olympic champions. But tell me how many of the millions of kids get proper training,” was Chetri’s poser.

Former Ranji cricketer Vijay Mohan Raj was the moderator for the programme.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / August 06th, 2015

Melbourne :

Joshna Chinappa today upstaged second seed Line Hansen in straight games to win the USD 15,000 Victorian Open squash competition for her 10th WSA title.

Third seed Joshna beat the Dane 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 in the final of the WSA event. It was only last week that Joshanalost to Line in Kooyong.

The Indian’s last triumph had come in the Richmond Open in April last year.

Known for mixing strokes and accuracy in the placements, the Joshna held the upper-hand right through, though she admitted, it was a “hard game” particularly after Line fought and brought the score to nine-all in the third game.

Coming as it did soon after her recent success in the National Championship, she was happy with her current form.

With the Australian Open to start in a few days and the venue being the same, the Joshna is looking forward to more success.

“I am so happy it will be at the same centre,” she said.

The title in the men’s section went to Australian Ryan Cuskelly who beat Greg Lobban of Scotland 12-10, 13-11, 11-9.

Meanwhile, India went down 0-2 to top ranked and title-favourite Egypt in the quarterfinals of the girls’ event of the WSF-world junior squash championship in Eindhoven.

Debutant Nikita Joshi, who played first, tried her best but Salma Hany Ibrahim was far superior. The Egyptian won 11-5 11-6 11-2 to give Egypt the lead.

Adya Advani was pitted against the top player Habiba Mohamed and it proved a tough task for the Indian. Habiba won easily 11-3 11-5 11-3 to give Egypt the win and a place in the semi-final.

India now will play for the 5th to 8th place matches

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport / by PTI / August 02nd, 2015

Ashwini Ponnappa is on a high after winning the Canadian Open women’s doubles crown along with vastly experienced Jwala Gutta. The Ashiwin-Jwala pair reached their career-best ranking of 13 having upset a higher ranked Dutch pair in the final of the Canadian Open.

Ashwini and Jwala are now focused on putting up a solid performance in next month’s World Championships.

Ashwini talked about her Canadian Open exploits, state of women’s doubles badminton in India and much more in an exclusive interview.

Excerpts:
Q: The Canadian Open win must have been just what was needed given the fact that the World Championships is happening in August coupled with the Olympics, which is just a year away. Must be pleased with the way things are going.

Yes I’m happy that Jwala and I won the Canadian Open. Though we won a few medals last year, we had not won a tournament in a very long time, hence this win feels great, especially because it is the Olympic year and the competition is fierce.

Q: You and Jwala did not have it easy in the final of the Canadian Open – you led 15-6 in the second game but the Dutch pair levelled things at 15-15 before you and Jwala showed your tenacity to win the match and the title. Do you think you guys are playing the best doubles of your career?

The Dutch pair are experienced and have won a lot of tournaments, so it was a tough match, I’m happy we won. Yes, I do think Jwala and I have improved and matured as a pair, which has helped us to play some really good matches and beat some top pairs.

Q: You and Jwala are the country’s top ranked women’s doubles – you guys reached highest ever ranking of 13 – how challenging it will be to break into the top ten and stay there consistently?

It is extremely tough for Jwala and me, especially since the two of us lack support in terms of firstly not having a professional doubles coach or a centre with sparring partners where the two of us can train together. We have managed to do well so far despite training in different cities merely because of the support we have received by the government in terms of sending us for all our tournaments, which has helped our game a lot. Sadly, that alone is just not enough to help us break into the top 10.

Q: You had upset the world number 8 in the final of the Canadian Open – how would you assess your chances in the World Championships?

We have as good a chance of doing well as any other pair out there. Though most of the pairs we would be up against come from countries which produce a lot of doubles pairs, I think me and Jwala are quite a strong pair and have a unique style as we are very offensive, so that should help.

Q: A lot has been said about you and Jwala being not included in the TOP scheme in the first two lists. How optimistic are you guys of being included in the next list?

Pretty optimistic!

Q: What are the improvement areas you guys need to focus on going forward?

Probably our defense needs focus.

Q: You are younger to Jwala by a few years, but you seemed like you have matured as a doubles player in recent times to complement the experience of Jwala. Your thoughts.

When I started playing with Jwala I was more or less an amateur with zero experience at the senior international level. But from the very first day Jwala has been supportive and encouraging and helped me to develop as a player.

Playing with her helped me to aim and dream big. The fact that she believed we could do well too helped a lot. And of course with time and experience, I think I’ve matured as a player.

Q: What would pave the way for the new crop of women doubles players in India as we are struggling to churn out quality pairs if we take both of you out of the equation?

To start off with, it would be having separate doubles camps with a doubles specialist and good sparring partners. If doubles as an event is given the right kind of encouragement and support, only then will it help youngsters to look at the event as a career option.

source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / SportsKeeda /Home> Badminton> Canada-Open>Badminton / by Suhrid Barua / July 18th, 2015

Saurav was the more experienced when it came to crunch moments

Time was not ripe for the old order to change. This much was clear after the senior national proceedings at the squash’s brand new venue in India, the Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram.

Two senior pros Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa helped themselves to one more title each. Saurav’s tenth title meant he had equalled Narpat Singh’s tally to be joint number one in terms of titles won in the history of squash in India while Joshna is three titles away from beating Bhuvaneswari Kumari’s record of 16.

Having said that, it must be mentioned that the two seniors must be wondering if the journey ahead would be just as kind to them. Keen observers of the sport still believe that the days of the two remaining at helm are not over yet, based on the way things panned out in Thiruvananthapuram. But it must be said both Harinder Pal Sandhu and Harshit Kaur, two respective runners up made deep impressions on the two winners.

The only difference was the factor ‘experience’. True, Harinder had beaten Saurav in Mumbai for his maiden title in what was part of the winning streak the young Sardar had gone through in 2014. Much has been written on those historic moments of which he was part of but when it came to the crux as it did this time, Harinder showed he still needed to fine tune certain aspects of his approach to rightfully renew the lease on the national title.
Harinder threw away the advantage

He fell just when it seemed he had Saurav at his mercy. Leading two games to nil and then conceding a game and still gaining a 6-2 lead in the fourth game, the Chennai lad appeared to get that dream touch. “His aggression and his ability to score winners not to mention his speedy movements, everything made it look as though there was little to choose between him and Saurav,” said national coach Cyrus Poncha without hiding his happiness over his ward’s wonderful progress in his career.

And yet Harinder forgot the cardinal principle in a sporting tussle that a win or loss is decided only after the last point is played. Experience was the key and a hardened pro now, Saurav has been through tough battles to know that all he needed was a single opening. Sure enough he found it to unsettle Harinder and the rest is now history.

Young players are coming through

Saurav admitted after the match that he thought Harinder played far better than what he did in Mumbai last year. And that adds to the poignancy for Harinder. Not so dramatic though was the women’s encounter but Joshna obviously had not bargained for the tough fight that junior champion Harshit produced, even if briefly. But those brief moments brought to fore the possibilities ahead as this Delhi player, who has shifted to Chennai to train at the ISA, is bound to gallop in confidence and experience.

Joshna may still have the ammunition required to keep her single-minded goal intact but one thing is sure with the bubbling enthusiasm building around, it could be a demanding task ahead. What impressed many in this year’s national championship was the way some of the players waiting to make a breakthrough in the senior ranks exhibited their talent.

Velavan Senthilkumar was one and Vijaykumar was another. The left handed Velavan, a product of ISA, is a cool but sound player with strong basics. What came to fore was the way he played to situations, like the way he wore down senior Sandeep Jangra in a show of complete control. Vijaykumar similarly outclassed Gaurav Nandrajog, once a strong force at the national level.

Both these young players have given sufficient indications of having come of age and that is good news for Indian squash. Add to that the continuing rise of Kush Kumar, who has the will to fight and does so admirably. In Thiruvananthapuram, Kush grabbed a game off Saurav in the semi-final and this is the first time he is achieving that against a senior professional.

There is more to come from this young man who like in his junior days, is keen to take on a dominant role and maybe he would not need to wait too long. In a way then the sport is now flux with good talents who, and that is significant, will serve the country long. They are young, eager and have come up through a tough competitive programme. The results of this has begun to show and Thiruvananthapuram was but just the beginning.

source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / SportsKeeda / Home> Squash> National Championship – Squash / by Sharikal Raman / July 22nd, 2015