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2001
World Junior Women's Championship
[last update was 11-jul-01
]
India Team Preview
Article and photos courtesy of Cyrus Poncha and their local India daily newspaper.
A young team and coach for World Junior squash
CHENNAI: He is just 25-years old. Perhaps he is the youngest national coach any discipline has ever had in India when he took over the Indian squash team three years back. Young and handsome, pleasant and popular... but a tough task master when it comes to training.
Cyrus
Poncha, the national coach, who is preparing the junior women's team to
participate in the Ninth World Junior Women's Squash Championship at Penang,
Malaysia from July 15 to 28 took a few minutes off from his busy training
schedule to talk to the local newspaper about the national camp which
is under progress at the Indian Cements Squash Academy courts here on
Sunday. But not before he completed a speed workout.
What is the emphasis at the camp? ``Fitness.'' Pat came the nswer. One can easily mistake him for a player. And after witnessing a speedy workout which he did along with three boys using the length of the court to do the shuttle-run, one can fathom what he meant with that one word. For the coach himself did an amazing 23 laps in 60 seconds and only a lap (or so) less than the boys. He is as fit as the players, well almost.
Still breathing heavily, he beckoned. Pulled a chair and sat for a chat. In between, he goaded girls to go for another game. He is guarded about his comments, saying: ``Our chances are good.'' But he hastened to add that this will be an exposure trip in preparation for the next world championship and the Asian Junior Championship which is a year and half away.
``We
are working towards the future. Three of our girls will be eligible even
for the next Asian junior and the participation in these meets will be
a good investment for the future,'' he felt. ``We have a very young team
and the girls are dedicated and hardworking,'' he added.
The training schedule consisted of three weight-training sessions and five hours of workouts every day split into two sessions with a day's rest at the week-end. They also had practice games and exposure trips.
Joshna Chinappa, the senior national champion is just 14 years while Vaidehi Reddy is 15-years old. Both the Chennai girls did well in the Singapore Wilson Junior Squash Championship and the Malaysian Junior Open finishing one-two on the top recently. Mumbai girls Rachita Vora (18) and Supriya Balsekar (16) complete the line-up. All the four are training here from May 15 and went on exposure trips twice in between.
In Malaysia, Vaidehi stretched Joshna to five sets before losing the final but she lost 0-3 in the next final in Singapore where Joshna won the under-17 and 19 titles.
This is the second time the Indian team is participating in the World juniors after their debut at the Antwerp World junior in 1999 where 18 countries participated. However, this year only 14 teams are drawn up and India are seeded 10th ahead of New Zealand, Hong Kong, Ireland and Singapore.
Defending champions Egypt are seeded second behind favourites Malaysia, for whom defending champion in the individual events Nicol David will spearhead the challenge.
The team seedings are only provisional and the final seedings may change as the positions are reviewed after individual competition reaches the semifinal stage. The individual events are slated for July 15 to 21 and team event begins on 22nd. Fifteen-year-old Malaysian school girl and teen sensation, Nicol David, will be the hot favourite to retain the title.
In the first round, Vaidehi will meet Delia Arnold of Malaysia while Joshna and Rachita will face Kiwi girls Catherine McLead and Jaclyn Hawkes respectively. Supriya's first round opponent will be Tan Peiqi of Hong Kong.
The
clothing for the team has been sponsored by Natalia, a women's fashion
garment manufacturing company. The team leaves for Malaysia on Tuesday.
Rajiv Reddy will accompany the team as manager.
N Ramachandran, secretary of the Squash Rackets Federation of India, said the team prepared well and wished them success.
All content © 2001 Squashtalk
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