Thomas Cup: Lack of foreign coach no hindrance to Indian shuttlers

Thomas Cup in Bangkok on Sunday. The sudden exit of Indonesian coach Agus Santoso seemed to have spurred Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy to perform better. Both were unbeaten in the tournament. Thomas Cup win: Wish Team IndiaWhile Lakshya Sen trains in Bangalore with U Vimal Kumar, the other singles players train at the Gopichand Academy. Gopichand groomed Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Prannoy and others to be world beaters.

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Of all the sporting triumphs, India's Thomas Cup victory should rank among its finest. For one, Indian men were stepping out of the shadow of the women, and while that is victory enough, the all-male huddle was hurriedly scripting a new chapter in Indian sport that has been riddled with the idea of

But with Gopichand over-burdened, managing the work load of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and about six men’s singles players, an arrangement was made for separate foreign coaches for women, men and the doubles teams with the help of SAI and BAI. The arrangement did not last long, however, as the foreign coaches got lucrative offers from other countries and left.

When Agus left last year, it again fell to Gopichand and Siyadatullah to train the men and the players seemed to have benefited from the experience. Siyadat travelled with the men's singles players and guided them courtside. Siyadat has been with Gopichand since the academy started in 2006. He was Sindhu’s coach in her formative years as well. Given his experience, the players now look up to him for advice during the matches. “I have been working with them for the last 15 years and have travelled with them. For the last eight months, I’ve completely focused on these players under the guidance of