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Vimal gears up for new challenge
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The former national champion and ace coach, U. Vimal Kumar, is all set to take over as the new Joint Chief National Badminton coach. Vimal's no nonsense approach should jolt the Indian badminton out of slumber and help it tread a new path.
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Photo: K. Gopinathan
Raring to go.
BADMINTON ENJOYS the tag of "priority sports" with the Union Government, which means unlike few other disciplines, it has the financial backing from the Sports Ministry, that guarantees the players a continued international exposure and clearance and support for the Indian squads for the international tournaments. The triumph of Pulllela Gopichand in the All England Championship - 2001, was the high point of the Indian badminton, but, of late, there has been a slide in the Indian performance.
The Commonwealth Games in the Manchester, was a rude jolt when India lost to unfancied New Zealand and earlier to that was the poor display in the Thomas Cup preliminaries. The overall dip in the quality has forced Badminton Association of India to look for ways to shore up the sagging fortunes and one of the major move that BAI made was to ask the former National champion, U. Vimal Kumar, chief coach and one of the Directors along with Prakash Padukone at the BPL-Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (BPL-PPBA), to become a joint chief National coach along with S.M. Arif.
Vimal Kumar, after putting down few conditions, which included that he be taken as a professionally paid coach, has acceded to BAI request. BAI, in turn has forwarded his case to the Sports Ministry, and has sought its clearance in making Vimal Kumar, the first professional coach with the Indian squad.
Vimal certainly has impressive credentials for the high post. He was the National champion twice - in 1988 and 1990, he was among the very few, who stood up to the maestro Prakash Padukone in his heydays. Vimal was also ranked among the top 20 in the World when he was in his prime. After his retirement, Vimal has been a moving force with the BPL-PPBA, which is now acknowledged as a premier training centre for badminton in the country.
Vimal Kumar, as he awaits the official appointment from BAI, looks forward to the new assignment which will be a tough one, but then Vimal Kumar always looks forward to new challenges.
In an interview with Metro Plus, Vimal speaks about his plans.
Here are the excerpts:
Vimal, can you say something about the BAI offer and when did it come about and under what circumstances?
This came about in August , after the Indian squad returned from Commonwealth Games. BAI felt that Indian squad had not done well in the Thomas Cup preliminaries in February and then the Commonwealth Games. So they had an executive committee in August and after that they asked me whether I would be interested in working as a joint chief coach along with Mr. S.M. Arif. I did have some initial reservations in the sense that I was among the panel of coaches earlier. It didn't work too well. So I made few conditions. I told them it should be a paid job as I am an outsider and not a SAI coach, secondly there should be a well-selected panel of coaches, who should be travelling with the teams. There should be accountability for the Indian performance, by both layers and coaches. In principle, BAI agreed to these suggestions, but as regards to my services as a paid coach, they have to deal with Sports Ministry, because this is a new concept. So far the Ministry or SAI paid only foreign coaches. BAI as such doesn't have funds to afford a full time paid coach. That's how I came into the picture.
You said that you weren't too happy with your earlier stint in the panel of coaches, are you mentally ready top take on the new assignment?
I am ready to take up the new assignment, which I said earlier will be a challenging one. Badminton is still in priority list and tours are being funded by the Government and it is my desire to see that players perform with more commitment in such tournaments. I feel, the foreign trips, have remained trips and are not being properly utilised by the players and that aspect needs to be tightened up. Players need to have targets and should be more responsible and that should be clearly spelt out to them. Coaches should monitor their performances and whoever, fails to deliver, should not be funded or sent. Irrespective of their domestic performances, if they fail to do well at the international meets, there is no point in persisting with them. Take Sachin Ratti for instance, he is a promising player and has beaten even Gopichand at home. But he had played over 10 tournaments abroad, and he has been struggling, often trying to qualify in some tournaments. That cannot be allowed. So, there should be a clear and strong message that slackness will be not be condoned and Mr. Arif also shares the same opinion and we need to tackle this firmly. I feel this also applies to our juniors, as a few consider it as a good trip. That is what happens in funded trips. But I am happy with the way our juniors played in South Africa in the Juniors World Championship, where we finished overall ninth. I think by far, this is best performance by an Indian junior team.
With regard to foreign tours, would you like see a change in the concept so there an optimum utilisation in terms of exposure?
I feel there is no accountability despite the exposure. Our players are getting an opportunity to play 10 to 12 international tournaments. I feel they need not be just grand Prix events. Only our top men players have it in them to play grand prix tournaments. Our women and doubles players should play in "A" Grade tournaments and depending on their performances, they should be sent for grand prix tournaments, so depending on merits, we should select the tournaments for the players and we should also monitor them carefully. If we do that, we can derive better results, instead of sending everyone for a grand prix event and then bemoan about the lack of a good show.
One of the disappointing aspect of the Indian team's performance in the recent past has been lack of good doubles combinations and what should be done about it?
We brought foreign doubles coaches to improve the standards, but then it was an expensive preposition. So taking that factor into consideration, the BAI 's last meeting thought that we should identify six to eight doubles players in 20 to 25 years age group and take them to Malaysia, where there are experts who train them there for couple of months. Also a doubles coach should accompany them. The players will get to play with better rivals in Malaysia and they can improve. BAI intends to take up this matter seriously and Verma, the BAI President will talk this over with Malaysian officials during his trip to Bangkok for the Asian Badminton Confederation championship. If it is mutually acceptable, Mr. Arif or I intend to go Malaysia and work out a suitable training programmer. We need to work on our women's doubles also. Shruthi Kurien and Jwala Gutta make up a good combination, but they need good training abroad preferably in Europe.
Would like you to list your immediate priorities.
Immediate priority is that we should qualify for the final of the Thomas Cup in 2004. We have exactly a year to do that. We have good singles players, we need to motivate them to play to their full potential and qualify for the Thomas Cup. Commonwealth Games come next an there is Sudirman Cup, the mixed team event, though we are not so good in it, I would like to see India get into top 10 in that event. In the open section of the Sudirman Cup, I expect Gopichand, Nikhil Kanetkar Ann Shyam Gupta, and to certain extent, Arvind Bhat to do well.
Speaking about Gopichand, has there been a slump in his form?
I still regard Gopichand as our best player who can beat anyone in an international tournament. He has been hit by injuries and that is sad, my personal advice to him would be not to put too much pressure on himself and there is no need to prove his class and there is no doubt about it. Just concentrate on your game, and stop worrying about other aspects, everything will fall in place. Once he gets his motivation back, Gopichand will be a force to reckon with at the world level for the next couple of years.
What about our women players?
Aparna Popat is still good, but I have lot of hopes on Trupti Murgunde. She is talented and can reach up to Aparna's level, and in the next Commonwealth Games, she should do well. Then there is B.R. Meenakshi, not naturally talented, but a gritty player, who on her day can beat anyone.
What about the juniors?
As I said earlier, the junior performance in the World junior championship was pretty good, but in the long run, I feel they should have higher goals than getting a job or a few foreign tours. They should look forward to playing big events like Commonwealth Games and we do have quite few promising youngsters like Rohan Castelino, Aditi Mutatkar, Sania Nehawal, Krishna Deka Raja, and Anand Pawar, who have the international class and they are in right age group, and can really shape up well. Juniors have a good scope and we should plan result-oriented camps.
Would you recommend a change in the domestic tournament?
I would certainly recommend a change, but then nothing happens as per schedule here and postponements are a regular feature. Take, for instance, the National Games dates, which have been changed twice, due to political compulsions. But then this is how things function here and there is point in complaining and I am fed up with complaining and we have to work within the system and make the best out of it.
In nutshell, how you see the future scenario?
Everything depends on how we perform. Of late, there has been a laid back attitude, because things were coming easy, the players, coaches and officials, all of us have to be on guard against slackness. We have to ensure badminton remains in the priority list that can come through only with good international performance. Players should have the desire to excel, at international level, coaches don't matter, everything depends on the players themselves and they should stand up and deliver. They should be able to think and analyse and seek coaches' advice to correct their weakness. Given the existing facilities and support, we should do much better in future.
Do you have any personal goals in the new assignment?
I would like to see how it works for one year. If I am not able to do justice to my job, if I am not happy, or if the players are not happy, I will definitely not stick around, I will back off.
KALYAN ASHOK
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