After success in Tokyo, para-shuttlers’ coach Khanna focuses on next mission
LUCKNOW: After Indian shuttlers won four medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, their coach Gaurav Khanna’s next mission is to sharpen the skills of the Indian squad for the 2021 Asian Youth Para Games, scheduled from December 2 to 6 in Bahrain.
The Indians won two gold, one silver and a bronze medal in badminton at the Paralympics in Tokyo. “I will hardly get time to rest at home once I reach Lucknow in a day or two. I know how important the Bahrain event is now for India. We won four medals at the last Games at Dubai in 2017,” said Khanna on Friday from the sidelines of a felicitation ceremony in New Delhi.
“After the success in Tokyo, the world is watching the Indian para- shuttlers and I would like the young Indian shuttlers to excel at the Asian Youth Para Games in December. Expectations are high and the shuttlers are raring to go.”
Khanna is yet to return to the Excellia Badminton Academy in Lucknow, a nursery for star shuttlers, including medalists Pramod Bhagat, Manoj Sarkar and Krishna Nagar. Khanna, along with all seven members in the Indian team, is attending ceremonies and functions across the country.
“Sometimes it’s hard as you are not getting time to spend with family and friends. But such a situation comes in everyone’s life, especially when you have something very important in hand,” he said.
“Watching the Indians win at the Tokyo Paralympics has energized me further to train the para-shuttlers.”
Over the last three years, Khanna brought all the parashuttlers under one umbrella at different locations in Lucknow. The para-shuttlers kept moving from the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College to the UP Badminton Academy and then to Excellia Badminton Academy on the outskirts of the state capital.
Even before the Indian team left for the Tokyo Paralympics in late August, all the aspirants for a place in the Indian team for the December event gathered at the venue and were training hard.
“From Tokyo itself, I was instructing the youngsters. Now, I have to fine-tune their training before the trials next month for the Bahrain Games,” said Khanna. He said these youngsters would be shifted to “Drona House” soon, which he built for the para-shuttlers earlier this year. “Now, the seniors have gone, so it would be used by the youth shuttlers. It’s close to the academy and the training is free, but shuttlers will have to bear the expenses on their food and lodging like the seniors were doing.”
The 10-12 para-shuttlers will get trained along with 50 others at the academy. Khanna is confident of a much better show at the Asian Youth Para Games. “I was also the coach of the Indian team in 2017.
Nilesh Gaikwad (silver), Arati Patil (silver), Arati Patil-Arwaz Ansari (silver in mixed doubles) and Chirag Baretha-Rahul Kumar Verma (bronze in men’s doubles) did great.” The 2017 Youth Games at Dubai turned out to be the best for India who finished overall fourth with 44 medals, including 17 gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze.
India didn’t participate in the maiden edition in 2009 at Tokyo, and had to settle with the 32nd place in 2013 at Kuala Lumpur, failing to win even a solitary medal.
“Now, India are a strong nation in para-sport too. I have a good lot of shuttlers. They are capable of helping India raise its medals tally at Bahrain, where around 800 athletes under the age of 20 are expected to compete in nine sports,” said Khanna, who says that after this his next target would be the 2022 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, China.