Kolkata: A day after ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal decided to resume training under the watchful eyes of national coach Pullela Gopichand, former coach Vimal Kumar stated that he would miss coaching her and also that she needed support to excel further in her career.
The Gopichand-Saina duo would be working together after a period of three years and Kumar said that he had a thorough discussion with the national coach about the decision made by the 27-year old shuttler to shift her base to Hyderabad.
“I spoke to Gopi yesterday. Gopi wanted to know whether myself and Saina had detailed discussion on shifting of her training base from Bengaluru to Hyderabad. We had a very clear understanding. The discussion was absolutely fine,” he said.
The former national also coach said, “It was good to have worked with a girl like Saina. Her work ethics, spirit and enthusiasm to train hard – these are Saina’s qualities I would miss.”
He said that training in Bengaluru hasn’t been all that easy for Saina as she missed her father Harvir Singh, who hasn’t been doing well after a prostate gland enlargement surgery.
Kumar also said that both he and Gopichand needed to give whatever players like Saina and Sindhu required as they are currently the best in the country and their feelings and emotions aren’t alike any other ordinary player.
He said, “Saina and Sindhu are two best girls in the country at this point of time. So, we need to ensure that they are given whatever they want for now, especially Saina, for she has some more years left in her to do well.”
“The inner feelings and emotions of top athletes is different. They are constantly wanting to get better and better. So, we need to understand that and try not putting a break on to their enthusiasm,” he further added.
Irrespective of who the coach is, Kumar believes that players like Saina would do well always as their success depends on 90 per cent hard work.
Said Kumar, “Players like Saina can excel where ever they play or under any coach – that could be me or Gopi, for 90 per cent of their success depends on their hard work.”
He further added, “We, as a coach, can only step in when a player is overdoing certain things.”
Saina has tasted a good amount of success during her stint with Kumar when she won the silver in the 2015 World Championship and the recently concluded one where she had to settle for a bronze. She had also attained the no.1 ranking in April 2015.
With things shaping up in this fashion, the top two female shuttlers-Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu would now train under Gopichand, who has already proved as to why he is one of the best coaches around. Thus, the both of them working under the same coach only means that the duo would be indomitable forces to reckon with in the upcoming badminton competitions as India looks to achieve the tag of being the next big thing in world badminton.
This is one of the classic cases of a smooth transition where an established and reputed shuttler like Saina Nehwal has decided to swap her mentors to improve her performance. While many might have expected Vimal Kumar to not take this in good light because of the fact that he had lost an able ward in Saina, the exact opposite happened as he instead ensured that the transition process for the 27-year old becomes smooth. This can be taken a good lesson to follow for athletes who often resort to mud-slinging and end up with bad blood in cases like these.
Nonetheless, Indian badminton found a sensible man in Vimal Kumar, who instead of his personal gains, decided to put the game in front and that’s why he believed that a player of Saina’s calibre needed to train under someone of her choice.