With HS Prannoy vs Priyanshu Rajawat being not just an all India but also an all-academy affair, no coach sat courtside and let the fellow Thomas Cup champions battle it out in a second-round clash at the India Open.
But an animated RMV Gurusaidutt couldn’t help himself. Sitting in the stands with cheering fans, Prannoy’s coach was continuously making hand gestures, talking to other coaches from the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) that his trainee could have played shots in ‘this way or that’.
Chief national coach Gopichand has always lamented the lack of coaches in the national setup, people who can succeed the likes of himself or U Vimal Kumar and continue grooming top-quality players. “To be able to talk and give tips is one of the challenges I had. At a point, I had about 6-7 (singles) players in the top 30 and I also had to take care of doubles. I wasn’t able to be give enough time to each of them as they wanted,” said the former All England champion.
All of a sudden, the Indian circuit is buzzing with coaches who have played at the highest level and are now guiding the creme de la creme of Indian badminton. While Gurusaidutt guided Prannoy in the latter’s resurgence the last one year, 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, who recently retired, is now assisting former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth.
Until recently Anup Sridhar was coaching reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen while former India international Arun Vishnu has played a pivotal role in the rise of both Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa and Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly.
“I’m very happy that people like Kashyap, Guru and Arun are helping me. The players are getting the required individual attention. To have played in this era helps. It just gives them that freedom to actually have coaches who are working exclusively for them. From an Indian perspective, to have talent not contributing back to the ecosystem would be not so nice,” said the Dronacharya awardee.
“For the first time we are seeing some top players coming back directly to the national setup. We’ve had coaches, I’m not saying we don’t have coaches, but they have not really worked with the national team. It really helps when quality players turn into coaches. I am super happy.”
While Arvind Bhat, Chetan Anand and Ajit Wijetilekk haven’t produced big names yet and are not involved in the national setup, they have recently started their own academies, nurturing talent who have had made an impact at lower strata of events.
Former India head coach Vimal Kumar points out that a major advantage the young coaches have is the fitness level, unlike older coaches, which can be put to good use during training. “Sitting outside and talking is easy but being with them, feeding them shuttles continuously during training, they can cope with it as they are fit. This is very important as the players will also respond. When you have played at the highest level then your views are also likely to gel. But I still feel we have left it a little too late,” said the national selector.
Gurusaidutt has played an extremely important role in the resurgence of Prannoy at the ripe age of 31, helping him win bronze at the World Championships as well as the Asian Games last year. The world No.9 also reached two finals on the 2023 BWF World Tour, winning one at the Malaysia Masters.
“We are right now at a stage where we not just connect with the current players but also the current badminton. It is also easier to coach as you have played at the highest level and you know how training is done at the highest level,” said Gurusaidutt.
Gurusaidutt revealed that Gopichand, every now and then, holds clinics for coaches, especially for those who have recently retired and switched over to coaching. This also includes not just the players who have played at the top but those who did not make it big. One of the biggest examples is Mohammed Siyadath Ullah, whose career was stopped short early due to an injury. But he has coached Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal.
However, Kashyap, who retired late last year, pointed out that there needs to be a proper system in place to groom coaches. The former world No.6 said the profession needs to be made financially lucrative for more former players to enter the system and groom future talent.
“It is not lucrative at all. It has to be, otherwise there is no motivation. The pay is miniscule. It is not treated as the most important job for the next generation of players but it is,” said Kashyap.
