Veteran badminton coach says country needs specialist to help players train in doubles
Going by the recent failures of Indian doubles shuttlers, Danish mixed doubles legend Joachim Fischer Nielsen said India needs a specialist coach from Denmark to set things right. Well, he gave no reason why the specialist has to be from his country, but he has touched a point that has not got due attention — quality of doubles players in Indian badminton.
Tom John – a renowned coach who has trained legends like Pullela Gopichand and now Ashwini Ponnappa – seconds Fischer but adds, "It is not important if the specialist is a Danish, Chinese or Japanese, he/she needs to be a specialist who will select the team and decide the pairings."
John says there is a need for specialist in all categories — singles, men's and ladies doubles, mixed doubles. "Otherwise, it is impossible for one person to do all the work," said John, who helped Gopichand win the All England Championship in 2001.
Even his ward, Ponnappa, agrees. "India needs a specialist coach in doubles. There are talented players, a specialist can make all of us better," she said.
John, who was the coach of the England national team for more than seven years, also points out that doubles training is totally different from singles.
"In England, I was mainly a singles coach but during my spare time, I used to help the doubles players too. But in India, you see it gets very difficult for one person, say Gopichand for example, to take care of all categories. To add to that, Gopi was a singles player himself," he says.
So why aren't there specialised coaches in India?
"India has not taken doubles seriously. They have not changed with time. They have only concentrated on singles which has been the tradition. Unfortunately, people who are running the federation are the same old people," adds John, who runs his own academy in Bangalore.
Talking about the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, John asserts that the selection is going to be a mess. "None of the players are doing well right now," he says.
When it comes to racket sports, people do tend to compare tennis and badminton and India has produced good results in tennis doubles.
John says, "In tennis, when a player realises he is not doing well in singles, he shifts to doubles. That has happened with Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. They failed in singles and saw good future in doubles."
John adds this has not been the case with badminton here. "In India, a singles player keeps playing singles. Whereas legends like Fischer, who was a singles player, shifted to doubles," he adds.
About the most famous doubles pair of Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta, John believes the duo can recreate the magic — only if the latter gets fitter.
"Jwala has to train a lot more. She has to play a lot more badminton. Ashwini is strong but one person cannot play doubles. If Jwala gets at least half as fit as Ashwini, they will start winning," says John.
Ponnappa says, "I think we need to play lot more, I can still see the fire in us."
World No.2 women's doubles shuttlers Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl from Denmark had remarked that Jwala is the "brain" and Ashwini the "machine" and they make a fine pair. John has his own take on this observation by Danish players.
He says, "If the brain does not move around the court, it is a problem. You can have the brain but you have to be at your game too."
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