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Press Report 2002 |
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Sachika
Balvani - Sachika squash champ! |
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When Major (Retd) S Maniam, The Asian Squash Federation’s consultant coach, said Sachika Balvani reminded her of the leading ladies squash player Nicole David, he was not comparing talent or making predictions, but rather was commending the eight-year-old on her steady progress in squash. Major Maniam, the tournament director during the recently concluded squash junior Nationals at Chennai, was speaking after the prize distribution ceremony and made the statement after Balvani had lifted the under-11 title, defeating top seed Harita Omprakash of Tamil Nadu 9-4, 9-3, 9-3 and was adjudged the most promising player of the tournament. Major Maniam, who earned a good reputation as a squash coach in Malaysia had first noticed Balvani when he conducted a clinic for players and coaches from Maharashtra at the Otters Club and was taken aback by the progress the eight-year-old had made in the period since. Ask the third-standard student of Bombay Scottish about the reasons for her good showing and pat come the answers: “My initial coaching in tennis helps me a lot. Besides, I train very hard and regularly in squash now, which gives me an advantage.” Balvani began playing tennis at the age of five, after which she shifted to squash at the age of seven under the guidance of National coach Cyrus Poncha. After Poncha shifted to Chennai, Balvani is being coached by Chandrakant Pawar at the Otters Club. She has also undergone short coaching stints with National level players like Saket Walia and Vishal Kapoor. According to father Irshwin, the influence of elder brother Ishaan also helps. “Ishaan and Sachika would play together in their early squash playing days. She misses that now that he is away,” he said. Ishaan is currently in Mayo College, Ajmer and was recently in the news for captaining his school to victory in the All India inter-school squash tournament. In fact, though too junior to take part in the squash clinic conducted jointly by Petra Foundation, Malaysia and Mid-day, Sachika had accompanied her brother Ishaan in an unofficial capacity and benefited from the coaching imparted there. Sachika still has a long way to go before she fulfils the early potential she has shown, but she can definitely take encouragement from her senior colleagues like Joshana Chinappa and Alisha Mashruwala, who have already carved a niche for themselves internationally in their age groups. |
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Times of India : 17th September, 2002 |
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City lad Ishaan Balvani anchored Mayo College Ajmer to the All-India Inter School squash title at Mayo College Ajmer. While Mayo bagged the under-13 beating Yajuvendra Public School 3-0, they lost the other three finals. Daly College Indore took the under-15 and 17 titles and H.R. College Mumbai (Kabir Kapoor, Yogin Thakur, Dheeraj Nagpal) the main under-19 crown. In the under-13 fima; after Sadiq put Mayo one-up beating Gaurav Kaul 2-9, 2-9, 0-9 Balvani then applied pressure to clinch the tie beating top seed Maninder Sandhu 9-4, 9-5, 9-6. Mayo’s Abhay lost in the ‘dead’ rubber to Gunraj 09, 7-9. Balvani, coached first by Cyrus Poncha and now by former India junior champ Dushyant Singh, was a semifinalist at the Northern India Open earlier. All
Finals Result: |
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Squash
can grow in India : Major Maniam |
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| Mumbai: Former
Malaysian squash-player-turned coach Major Maniam took the first step
towards broadening the base of the game when he conducted a Level I course
for 18 city coaches at the Otters Club last week. he also trained national
women's players Mekhala Subedar, Priyanka Yadav, coaches,
professionals and also a few parents.
This is a part of a development programme of the Asian Squash Federation headed by N. Ramchandran, also the president of the Squash Rackets Federation of India. The SRFI have built a squash complex in Chennai where members of all Indian teams can train free. Maniam is the director of coaching, making his base in India for three years. He says Indian squash has the potential to look up, in this interview, Excerpts. How was the experience of conducting the
course? You had a mixed bag here, coaches,
professionals and parents? The Chennai academy requires staying away
from home and endurance work. Can our boys cope, won't there be dropouts? There is an absence of reasonable goals for your youngsters. The Satellite circuit is too strong and there are too few tournaments here. This leads to a drain to the U.S. Most certainly Indians set goals. But to go to study in American universities using squash as a vehicle to get there. This has to change. WE must try and retain as many top players as we can, only then can we take them from the junior level to the senior pro level. Generally, the problem of Asian countries is studies getting first priority because of the academics rat race. Sports takes a back seat in our culture. Only a handful venture into the sport - like Malaysian Ong Beng Hee, India's Ritwik Bhattacharya, who is willing to forgo his studies to pursue excellence in squash. This is the type of player we need. Can you single out the upper crust Indian
stars? Vikas Jhangra can catch up with them. Along the girls Joshna Chinappa and Vaidehi Reddy are extremely talented. In Mumbai, Alisha Mashruwalla impressed. We need dedication from these player and the rest will take care of itself. Pakistan didn't have a great system yet
they did well in squash. Your comment ? The system broke down maybe because the new generation became affluent and has more things to do than play squash because of an academic background. The system has fallen because the circle was small and nothing to fall back on. As a result there are no Pakistanis in the top 20 in the world rankings. Their federation has realised the issue and a huge National junior programme for broadening the base has been launched. I hope India emulates its neighbors. |
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Double
treat for Vikram Malhotra By Pradeep Vijayakar |
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Vikram Malhotra's winning efforts in recent months have won instant recognition. He was bestowed with the PROSQUASH Award for International Excellence in Squash with a cash prize of Rs. 51,000 by Mahendra Agarwal, director, Indian Squash Professionals, at the Press Club on Monday. The ISP is an organisation involved in promoting the game of squash in India and brings out the PRO SQUASH newsletter. Last
week, Vikram was awarded the `Laureus Sports for Good Foundation'
scholarship of Rs one lakh given to promising Indian junior sportspersons
in New Delhi. (The only other junior from the state was Pune's badminton
player Aditi Mutatkar). Vikram was the only one chosen from the field of
squash and received it from tennis icon Boris Bocker, his idol. Earlier
last month, the eight-standard lad from Beacon High School, Khar, won the
Milo All Star Malaysian Junior Squash Open Championships 2002 in Kuala
Lumpur, as well as the Singapore Wilson Junior Squash Championship 2002.
On his way to these titles he beat top class players like Jerry Foo of
Malaysia. Among
those present at the felicitation was India's six-times times national
champion-turned coach Brig. Raj Manchanda. He said about Vikram:``He is a
sweet-flowing player, a natural. More creditably, he is adventurous in his
approach.'' In
just two years of picking up the game form his father Shiv at Khar
Gymkhana, the 12-year-old Vikram has a rich bounty of silverware. He
claimed the Hong Kong Open Junior 2000, the Junior National title,
Air-India Squash Championships twice, the Little Master's, the Otter's
Open, and the West Zone Inter-school, among others. Nine-times
national professionals champions Chandrakant Pawar has honed his skills.
Mother Anita being a Reebok fitness instructor has been an added help. ISP
has rewarded Vikram giving him free coaching from Pawar for a year. Vikram has no time to rest on his laurels as he comepetes in the Hong Kong Junior Squash Open this week. He is the top seed and should complete the hat-trick of south-east titles. |
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Joshna takes a
quantum leap under Bajwa |
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Mumbai : The wonder girl of Indian squash, Joshna Chinappa, is back after a month-long training stint with Satinder Bajwa, a one-time coach of all-time great Janshar Khan at Harvard University in the U.S. Her father Anjan has noted a new sense of discipline. She absolutely refuses to touch chocolates, chips, fizzy drinks which she used to love. And finds her quietly doing her sit-ups on her own. India’s youngest national champ at 14 last year, was part of the Indian women’s team that brought a historic silver at the last Asian a few months ago. She talks excitedly of how she had to go to the U.S. to know about the wonder of ‘power yoga’ for sportsperson. Excerpts. How did the training
differ from which you have already had? Has our vision of
the sport widened ? Did he provide any
insights into the sport ? Did he give
illustrations about Jansher ? What areas did he
say you need to tone up? Can an Asian Games
medal (at Busan in September) be a possibility ? What is the follow
up now ? Coaches should not
make training a tedium. How did Bajwa make the sport interesting ? But Baj does make you work hard. He introduced me to power yoga which I enjoyed thoroughly, and was real seat-out. I benefited from it very much. Imagine I had to go to the US to discover it. |
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