HYDERABAD: Behind the meteoric rise of Saina Nehwal lies the contribution of one lesser-known coach P Bhaskar Babu, who has been coaching the Indian ace shuttler since her initial foray into international badminton.
Apart from the chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, Saina always attributes her success to her coach Bhaskar Babu, who has played a crucial role in shaping her career.
Bhaskar Babu, who has been coaching Saina since 2006, has also played key role in the success of another ace badminton player Chetan Anand, apart from several others.
"Saina is here. Chetan Anand was with me for 15 years. Prithvi, Neelima Chowdary, Sudharani, Dinesh, Swetha and so many others are there. They all won tournaments at the national and international levels," he told PTI.
"I started coaching Saina in 2006. Her progress is fantastic. She was not very confident in 2007 and 2008 and used to lose in first rounds. But once she started winning, she got to know what exactly she needed.
"On our part (me and Gopi), we know what she requires. We assess her performance and talk to her when we prepare her for the tournaments," Bhaskar Babu added.
Heaping praise on Saina, Bhaskar Babu said that an Olympic medal can be expected from her if everything goes well.
"She is very confident. She is keen to rectify whatever shortcomings are there. There are a lot of expectations from her and she is aware of that. If everything goes well, we expect an Olympics medal from her," he said.
"She is mentally very tough. She never gives up on a match and never feels that she is going to lose. She listens to the coach and she expects the coach to give something to her before the match, during the match and after the match. That is a very good quality," he said.
Besides Saina, Bhaskar Babu felt P Kashyap was another player who can win Super Series events.
"Saina is the best and next is Kashyap. Once he crosses a barrier, he can also win super series events," Babu said, adding, P V Sindhu, Sikki Reddy, Guru Sai Dutt and H S Prannoy are all promising players in the national badminton circuit.
Babu, who hails from a small town of Narsapuram in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, played at the state-level in the 1970s and later chose coaching as his career.
"I used to struggle a lot to become an international level player. Those days I could not get proper training to reach to the highest level in this sport but I still used to compete hard. I managed to advance to the semifinals of a lot of tournaments but unfortunately could never able to cross that barrier. It was in 1975," Bhaskar Babu recalled.
"Later, I realised that there was something wrong with me or with the system. It was my own choice to become a coach. I wanted to become a coach so that I could assist budding players from rural areas and small towns who are finding it difficult to progress to the next level, he added.
After obtaining a diploma in coaching from the National Institute of Sports (NIS) at Patiala, Bhaskar Babu joined the National Thermal Power Corporation ( NTPC) as a coach.
"I used to train there but there was no satisfaction. I started looking for a job and got one in Sports Authority of India. In 1987, I started coaching in Vijayawada.
"Among players trained by us, more than 25-30 have won almost all the titles in India and there are so many others who have won medals at international level also," he said.
Bhaskar Babu expressed happiness that badminton is gaining popularity in the country with more youngsters and parents showing interest in the game at various levels.
"I feel badminton is the second most popular game after cricket. There is lot of participation in badminton at club level. Players are also coming up, parents involvement is good and Association (Badminton Association of India) is also doing a good job," he said.
"If resources are provided by government and private organisations, many more players can win medals for the country, as was proved during the Commonwealth Games," he added.
Apart from the chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, Saina always attributes her success to her coach Bhaskar Babu, who has played a crucial role in shaping her career.
Bhaskar Babu, who has been coaching Saina since 2006, has also played key role in the success of another ace badminton player Chetan Anand, apart from several others.
"Saina is here. Chetan Anand was with me for 15 years. Prithvi, Neelima Chowdary, Sudharani, Dinesh, Swetha and so many others are there. They all won tournaments at the national and international levels," he told PTI.
"I started coaching Saina in 2006. Her progress is fantastic. She was not very confident in 2007 and 2008 and used to lose in first rounds. But once she started winning, she got to know what exactly she needed.
"On our part (me and Gopi), we know what she requires. We assess her performance and talk to her when we prepare her for the tournaments," Bhaskar Babu added.
Heaping praise on Saina, Bhaskar Babu said that an Olympic medal can be expected from her if everything goes well.
"She is very confident. She is keen to rectify whatever shortcomings are there. There are a lot of expectations from her and she is aware of that. If everything goes well, we expect an Olympics medal from her," he said.
"She is mentally very tough. She never gives up on a match and never feels that she is going to lose. She listens to the coach and she expects the coach to give something to her before the match, during the match and after the match. That is a very good quality," he said.
Besides Saina, Bhaskar Babu felt P Kashyap was another player who can win Super Series events.
"Saina is the best and next is Kashyap. Once he crosses a barrier, he can also win super series events," Babu said, adding, P V Sindhu, Sikki Reddy, Guru Sai Dutt and H S Prannoy are all promising players in the national badminton circuit.
Babu, who hails from a small town of Narsapuram in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, played at the state-level in the 1970s and later chose coaching as his career.
"I used to struggle a lot to become an international level player. Those days I could not get proper training to reach to the highest level in this sport but I still used to compete hard. I managed to advance to the semifinals of a lot of tournaments but unfortunately could never able to cross that barrier. It was in 1975," Bhaskar Babu recalled.
"Later, I realised that there was something wrong with me or with the system. It was my own choice to become a coach. I wanted to become a coach so that I could assist budding players from rural areas and small towns who are finding it difficult to progress to the next level, he added.
After obtaining a diploma in coaching from the National Institute of Sports (NIS) at Patiala, Bhaskar Babu joined the National Thermal Power Corporation ( NTPC) as a coach.
"I used to train there but there was no satisfaction. I started looking for a job and got one in Sports Authority of India. In 1987, I started coaching in Vijayawada.
"Among players trained by us, more than 25-30 have won almost all the titles in India and there are so many others who have won medals at international level also," he said.
Bhaskar Babu expressed happiness that badminton is gaining popularity in the country with more youngsters and parents showing interest in the game at various levels.
"I feel badminton is the second most popular game after cricket. There is lot of participation in badminton at club level. Players are also coming up, parents involvement is good and Association (Badminton Association of India) is also doing a good job," he said.
"If resources are provided by government and private organisations, many more players can win medals for the country, as was proved during the Commonwealth Games," he added.
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