CHENNAI: “THE way I was brought up, I didn’t deal quite so much in medals. And as I got older I was never thinking about trophies, medals or rankings. The more I think, the more it takes me away from Squash. All I can do is think about what happens in the moment? What shot do you need to play next?.” That is what former World No 1 from England James Willstrop is trying to inculcate, in his role as the foreign coach for India at the Asian Games. He spoke on the added pressure of winning medals and qualifying to the Olympics, on what impact he wants to bring in his short stint in a chat with select media. Excerpts:
On his month-long tenure and getting to know the players
I'm coming in from the outside as someone who's been there before and hopefully can offer some experience, but I don't know a lot of them in great depth (He has worked with both Abhay Singh and Anahat Singh previously.) So yeah, I'm trying my best just to be there for them really and support them anyway I can. I've just tried to make contact with them before I got here, at least get the relationship going a little bit. And, you know, I'll probably get to know them a bit more from now.
On the impact he wants to bring
So it is a supporting role. Harry (Harinder Pal Sandhu) is the coach. He's in charge and I want to help him. I'm not going to come in and be too heavy with my thoughts. I'm here to just give them the tactics and the strategy against opponents. I've been to the highest level in the world working out these strategies.
On Anahat’s chances
She's very young and relatively inexperienced compared to her compatriots. So, she's very early trying to beat these people. This is a big occasion for a young girl like her. There's a lot of pressure on her shoulders to qualify for the Olympics. So all we can do is just keep her in the moment. It's still very early for her in her development. We can just give her a little bit to just give her the notch she needs to take these scalps, which is a very tough ask for her, but she's capable. But she'll have to get the strategy right.
On areas Anahat can improve
In both the losses to World No 5 Sivasangari Subramaniam and World No 9 Tinne Gilis, the game slightly ran away from her in a general sense. You've got to remember they are highly seasoned competitors. Anahat has barely played any platinum events. We've learned a few things from the losses. Anahat was not extending around the back enough against Siva. So there's one or two little things we can work on there. In Qatar, her defeat to Gillis was more to do with experience. The fact that she's played those matches will help. Because it looked like those two phases of play, she just didn't quite have the answers. But sometimes that does happen.
On India’s chances
There are chances for this to go very well and gold medals in the singles, in the team, and possibly in the doubles. And there are chances that it might not go so well because the other countries are strong. But this is a sport. All I can do and all we can do is get these players prepared as best we can. If they can play every single moment, they're going to be in there with a real shout of getting golds and medals, even golds, but medals. But it could go either way. Pakistan might have a fight, you know. Malaysia has got a great team. They could just hit the button. But our players are in good shape. They're not coming in light, which is a good thing. So hopefully, they've done all they can do.
