CHENNAI: Shuttlers Lokeshviswanathan and Naveen P's journey is a tale of perseverance, hard work and resourcefulness. In the just-concluded national championships in Bengaluru, the doubles specialists from Tamil Nadu were one of the standout performers as they reached the title match before going down with a fight. What makes their effort noteworthy is the fact that their day job is coaching the sport, something they took up out of passion and to meet their day-to-day expenses.
This is uncommon, especially among some of the top medal contenders at the domestic circuit, who generally tend to have a healthy support system. A lot of them are associated with some of the famed academies in the country. "To meet our day-to-day expenses, we have to take up coaching. The other players will be training for four to five hours per day. We generally train for the last 10 days or so before we take part in matches," Lokeshviswanathan said.
The top talents are generally funded for international events, where they can obtain much-needed exposure. More importantly, they also gain valuable ranking points in order to be eligible for marquee events and a chance to represent the country. That is still a distant dream for Lokeshviswanathan and Naveen, who have multiple state titles to their name. "Even if we take part in four or five international tournaments, we won't have enough ranking points," Lokeshviswanathan explained.
Having endured many challenging days in the early days of their playing career, Lokeshviswanathan, who acquired his coaching certificate from SAI NIS Patiala, is hoping to pass on the knowledge to the youngsters. They are running a private academy in Coimbatore, where 20 professionals and 20 beginners are part of the training programme. "I always wanted to stay connected with this sport. I wanted to guide my juniors. While playing, I planned it. I learned under several coaches and for the last few years, me and my partner have been running an academy of our own," he said.
Having learned things the hard way, he intends to make things easier for his wards. "I started playing in senior nationals in 2015. For doubles, there was no proper coaching in place. Due to financial constraints, we also didn't go to any academies. At the time, I felt only Gopichand Academy had good coaching for doubles. We would go to tournaments, and each time we would rework our shortcomings. It was a constant process. I would lose in Round of 32. To reach the semifinals itself, it took me around six to seven years. Now, the juniors are not facing that issue with a better training programme in place. They are getting results in quick time," Lokeshviswanathan said.
They might not have the support needed to thrive at the international level but they have had the push from the Tamil Nadu Badminton Association. "The state association is quite supportive. Just because we are above 30, they won't discourage us. They were hoping to see us win gold. We got very close but unfortunately, we could not pull it off."
Naveen, who originally hails from Sathyamangalam, is also on the page when it comes to coaching. Gone are those days when they used to fall at the first hurdle. Having laboured so hard to come this far, they hope to play for the country one day. "If we had won (nationals), we might have gotten a chance (to be part of the team equation) for the Asian Championships.
Our dream is also to represent the country. We would have maybe gotten a chance to take part in the selection trials. This (nationals) is the only method for us to get into the Indian team as we have not participated in international tournaments," Lokeshviswanathan said.
Given their never-say-die attitude, they won't stop pushing to live their dream.