The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Hidayat’s coach in India’s corner
Indonesian Mulyo Handoyo has been roped in to ease the workload on national coach P Gopichand
AS KIDAMBI Srikanth went about his training session at the Siri Fort Complex along with other Indian men’s shuttlers, and interestingly Carolina Marin, the familiar sight of Gopichand observing from the coaches’ corner was missing.
The corner wasn’t vacant, instead the seat was occupied by the man roped in to ease Gopi’s burden and take care of India’s singles talent. Mulyo Handoyo, best known for coaching Indonesia’s Taufik Hidayat to an Olympic gold, observed the players, Srikanth especially, before walking down to have a quick chat with Guntur lad.
It’s Handyo’s second month into his job as India’s singles coach. As per national chief coach Gopichand’s suggestion, SAI had cleared his appointment in December last year. It may still be early days, but Handoyo feels he has a fair idea of what areas the Indians need to work on.
“Mental toughness”, Mulyo says, is one of the areas most of the Indian shuttlers have to work on.
“We already have been here for two months. The players are getting mentally stronger. We have developed a different programme and we are taking it step by step,” he says before being interrupted by a phone call from PV Sindhu. “I give her a lot of tips,” he smiles. He rates Kidambi Srikanth very highly and says his playing style reminds him of his former ward. “They have similar styles. But Taufik had a more powerful game,” the softspoken coach says. Srikanth won the China Open two seasons ago and followed it with the India Super Superseries, but has struggled to win consistently with erratic early exits on the tour.
“I think Srikanth has a complete game. But he needs to train harder and improve focus. He has a lot of experience to come back stronger but needs to develop a ‘winnermentality’ (Mulyo’s assistant came up with the word using Google translate). He has the experience but needs to push a little harder.”
Mulyo puts a lot of emphasis on body language and attitude. “You should never feel down and should give your 100 percent on the court,” he often tells a budding singles player.
Since the arrival of the Indonesian, one major change at the Gopichand Academy has been the lengthening of training sessions. Instead of three sessions, as was the case earlier, Handoyo has prefered to implement two longer training sessions a day. The on court sessions have also been stretched which is likely to help the players develop endurance. Indians have often found it difficult to keep their grip on the big games.
“We have 45 minutes of practise, straight. Naturally our fitness will improve and we will be able to play the longer games,” Harsheel Dani, one of Handoyo’s wards, feels about the Indonesian’s tweaks.
“Gopi sir had a lot of speed sessions and Handoyo prefers to have longer sessions. Both have their benefits,” says Siril Verma, a former junior world No.1, who trains at the academy.
Having trained the supremely-talented but eccentric Hidayat, he has inherited a slightly different lot in India. The Indian shuttlers are hard working, mild-mannered and rarely come across as intimidating.
“My English (is) not good. But technically I’m good,” he says while talking about the language barrier. But the coach, who led Hidayat to an Olympic gold in 2004 Athens and then World Championships in 2005, has a CV which dwarfs the “insignificant hindrance”.
“We have no problems with the language. He manages well with his broken English. During the practise sessions if we go wrong, he corrects us and demonstrates the strokes,” Harsheel says. “Handoyo is very friendly and approachable. I never hesitate to approach him whenever I have a problem. I feel it’s a great privilege to be trained by someone who has coached one of the all-time greats,” Harsheel adds.
Mulyo has signed a three year contract and has set several targets which he felt were way too many to recall immediately. At the moment India have eight singles players in the top 50 bracket and with several having the potential to move up the ladder, Gopichand’s task as national coach was never going to be easy. But the arrival of someone as experienced as Handoyo, who started his career as a coach way back in 1982, gives Gopichand more time to oversee the overall development of Indian badminton.
As the players gear up for the second major tournament of year after the All England, we are likely to see more of Handoyo in India’s corner.