CHENNAI:A casual scroll through Cyrus Poncha’s official Twitter handle will tell you all about the kind of year or so Indian squash has had. Most of his updates pertain to only thing – Indian squash players winning events right across the globe.
However, his post at 8pm on Monday was a bit more special than the others. “India’s Cyrus Poncha nominated for Asian Squash Federation ‘Coach of the Year’ award,” it read.
His charges have won so many times recently that Poncha must be making Dronacharya jealous.
Cyrus, the national team coach, says he has no secrets but points his finger at two wins in 2014 that could have altered the contours of the sport. “In 2014 we won the Asian Games as well as the Commonwealth Games and those were two big titles for us at that point.”
That squash players from the country are there or thereabouts is a well-known fact. But 2016 changed that. They shattered the glass ceiling. “I think wins at the world doubles in Australia was an exceptional performance.”
He also reserved special praise for Velavan Senthilkumar, who will be playing his first PSA tournament as a senior in South Africa in a few weeks. “He is the new boy on the block and the Asian junior title last year proved that.”
Cyrus will be receiving the award during the Asian Team Championships in Chennai later this month.
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