Malaysian badminton coach Sankar Annamalai focusing on mental strength as he guides juniors at National Centre of Excellence

“Cherish this loss. It will teach you something.”

This is what 54-year-old Sankar Annamalai, a badminton coach at the National Centre of Excellence (NCE) in Guwahati, told the doubles pairs that exited the Yonex Sunrise 31st Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Ranking Prize Money Tournament.

It was a mixed day for the Malaysian coach because two pairs also advanced to the finals at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex.

Mental strength is what junior players need in abundance, Annamalai believes.

“India’s junior players have started gaining key skills much earlier than before. But they lack power as compared to Malaysians and Indonesians. But at the Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 levels, mental strength is most important and building that is one of our targets,” Annamalai said.

The Badminton Association of India’s NCE started last year and currently hosts 42 players from across the country
training in Guwahati.

Korean Park Tae-Sang and Annamalai are the specialist singles coaches, while Russian Ivan Sozonov is the doubles badminton coach. The other coaches there are Sachin Rana, Saiyam Shukla, Saurabh Sharma and Anand Tiwari, along with four physios and a team of strength and conditioning experts.

Annamalai has been part of the Malaysian junior programme earlier, playing a role during the formative years of former world champion and multiple Olympic medallist Soh Wooi Yik, multiple world doubles medallist Koo Kien Kiat and Tokyo Olympics medallist Soniaa Cheah.

“Malaysian badminton coaches focus a lot on skill at the Under-12 level. And add to that, the power factor. In Malaysia, be it the top junior or senior players, all train at the national training centre. India’s top juniors should be at the NCE too. Park Tae-Sang has been focusing on improving the attacking skills of the players, apart from shots like drops and high smashes. Similarly, Ivan has been working on the drive and smashes of doubles players as well as their defence. The idea of both Park and I is to ensure top juniors get international exposure and are able to train aboard too.”

A key decision for badminton coaches at the NCE is whether a particular player should focus on singles or doubles.

“One thing which we have told the juniors is that you don’t need to specifically decide about singles or doubles at a very young age. But whenever you decide, it should be only one format with the right kind of mental training as well as skill training for that very format. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too started late but look how (coach) Tan Kim Her made them think like doubles players and worked on them,” Annamalai said.

The NCE has a talented bunch in its ranks. Among them are Sanskar Saraswat, who is excelling in singles, as well as former junior world No.1 doubles player Tasneem Mir.

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