CHENNAI: Ever since the departure of foreign coach Ashraf El Karargui ahead of the Commonwealth Games last year, most of the country’s top squash players have been training abroad. While the senior athletes have voiced the need to have a full-time coach travelling with them on plenty of occasions, it has not happened so far. The Squash Rackets Federation of India’s (SRFI) plan to invite event-based coaches is yet to be implemented for the senior team.
The junior players have however got a taste of SRFI’s new plan with England junior coach Chris Ryder conducting sessions for them recently. While there was a plan to bring in David Palmer during the men’s Asian Championships earlier this year, it did not happen as they did not get the approval on time from the Sports Ministry. With the women’s World Championships set to start on October 24 in Egypt this month, Joshna Chinappa has said that players can benefit from a team of coaches and physios travelling with them. “Ideally, it would have been nice if we have a coach to go with us. We are all playing individually on the tour now. Luckily for me, Saurav Ghosal and Ramit Tandon will be playing a PSA event there. So we will help each other out.
“I think a full-time coach is a must. We did have that two years back and it helped us as a group. I think it will be really good if that happens again” she said. Joshna is currently training under Hadrian Stiff in the UK. However, the World No 12 is not in a position to hire Hadrian to accompany her during major events due to the expenses involved. More than the senior players, Joshna also feels that the next generation will benefit a lot from having a full-time coach.
SRFI secretary general Cyrus Poncha has said that the event-based coach plan will be implemented from next year, without a doubt. However, he ruled out the possibility of hiring a full-time coach in the near future. “The last time we had a coach, the players created internal problems. That is why he left. Anyway, they are all training abroad. We will think about hiring a new foreign coach if the players are willing to come down.”