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