Germany’s Peter Engel made some interesting observations about top Indian paddlers and his interactions with them during his tenure as the foreign coach of the National team[s] during a video conference with Sports Authority of India (SAI) coaches on Saturday.
Engel, in charge of the senior National teams for the 2014 Commonwealth and Asian Games, shared his experiences on working with Manika Batra, Sharath Kamal and G. Sathiyan.
When he saw Manika playing most of her strokes on her backhand with a long pimple, he suggested she use her forehand to finish points.
“I told her that no rubber can solve your problem. You have to work on your forehand. Now if you see her, she is not playing with pimple anymore and is, in fact, hitting winners [using] on the normal rubber,” said Engel, who had previously coached National teams from The Netherlands and Spain.
According to the German, Sharath became strong on his backhand after following his idea of the paddler using his left side more effectively so that he could finish points on his stronger weapon — the forehand.
“When I first started with Sharath, I told him it was not enough to use only his forehand. Earlier, his backhand was 50-50 on the table. Now he is placing them preparing for his forehand,” said Engel.
Sathiyan, said the coach, was not finishing points and was content playing rallies.
“Earlier, when he had the chance to finish, he didn’t. I told him ‘you are playing chess on a big court. You should take your chances. Now, he is very aggressive and a very smart player,” Engel said.
The veteran, who has been involved in 11 Olympics, said: “Coaches should involve the advanced players in practice, ensuring that they sync with their ideas. They should ask the players for their inputs as well.”