The fire still burns in this veteran coach

KOCHI: Having led more than a dozen shuttlers by the hand into national prominence, coach M J Mohanachandran is keen to lend his midas touch to the national junior badminton team. The Ke

KOCHI: Having led more than a dozen shuttlers by the hand into national prominence, coach M J Mohanachandran is keen to lend his midas touch to the national junior badminton team.

The Kerala State Sports Council coach, currently on assignment as the chief coach at the Regional Sports Centre Badminton Academy here, has been named as the coach of the Indian under-16 team for the Asian Badminton Confederation's Asian junior championship to be held at Colombo from August 3 to 8.

With the 14-member team scheduled to attend a preparatory camp at the RSC in July, the seasoned coach has high expectations. "The team is very talented and we are have high hopes of winning a medal in the ABC championship," he said.

A native of Lakshmi Nada in Kollam, Mohanachandran began his coaching career in 1993 at the Ashtamudi Boat Club after the NIS course.

"For the NIS programme, Xao Mein, the Chinese coach under whose care Gopi Chand became a star, was the instructor," he said.

The same year in October, the former Kollam district champion and Calicut University captain joined the KSSC for a four-year period at Kozhikkode.

Later, he worked at Thrissur before joining the RSC in January this year.

During the 16 years of coaching, he has helped shape the careers of most Kerala players who are currently shining in the national circuit. India's top doubles team of V Diju and Sanave Thomas won the junior nationals in 1997 when Mohanachandran was in charge of the state team. Another memorable moment for him was Kerala's second place finish in the 2000 national interstate championship. "It was after 15 years that Kerala had achieved the feat," he said.

In 2007, the Kerala's doubles team of Suraj P V and Bennet Antony became champions when he headed the state for the second time in the junior nationals.

Aparna Balan, Vineeth Menon, Alwin Francis, Ram C Vijay, Daya Elsa Jacob, H S Prannoy, Megha Merin Ninan, Arun George, Arathi Sara Sunil and P C Thulasi; Mohanachandran has seen them all progress through the various age-groups.

"The challenge for a coach is to identify talent judging by the psycho-motor abilities, reflexus and speed. It is risky to say whether a person will develop into a good player, but the coach has to make that call,'' he said adding that it takes nearly three years to nurture the technical skills.