Russian former All England doubles champion Ivan Sazonov is into consideration for the appointment of India’s badminton doubles overseas coach on the nationwide camp. The 33-year-old is more likely to be a part of at the beginning of the following monetary 12 months, and can principally be accountable for the entrance line and growth squad of juniors after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
India’s newest entrants within the high 5, Satwik-Chirag, nonetheless, will proceed to be coached by Danish Mathias Boe, who has helped them clinch a World Championship medal of their greatest season ever.
Sazonov, who arrived at BAI to use for a job in India, will take cost of the following pairings like Dhruv Kapila – MR Arjun and Krishna Prasad – Vishnuvardhan, in addition to the crop of juniors bursting by way of the wings.
“He might be within the system 24*7, and given his good equation with Bo, will even coordinate to carry uniformity in this system for the second rung in addition to the juniors. The formalities will take a while, however we’re optimistic about it and the Sports Authority of India has given its go-ahead considerably.
Bo has finished an amazing job, serving to India elevate the Thomas Cup this 12 months by guiding Satwik-Chirag to title triumph. However, he cannot commit full-time to being across the entrance line, which requires devoted and particular consideration. That’s the place Sazonov’s appointment can fill that hole.
The Russian participant gained the 2016 All England title with associate Vladimir Ivanov and each are recognized for his or her expertise, depth and adaptive variation of their video games. The pair have performed for various groups within the Premier Badminton League, and share a great rapport with the Indian juniors.
While Mathias Boe has laid out broad outlines for specialised coaching and sitting for matches past Satvik-Chirag, with growing numbers it has turn out to be obligatory to herald extra specialisation. The pair of Dhruv-Arjun and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand is on the cusp of an enormous Olympic qualification season the place the 2 mixtures might be eyeing top-16 finishes in males’s and girls’s doubles to maximise qualification. Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, in addition to Krishna Prasad-Vishnuvardhan are additionally within the combine.
India’s blended doubles pairings are nonetheless of their infancy, and the likes of Sikki Reddy, Sai Prateek and Ishan Bhatnagar will even want tactical shepherding. Hopefully Sazonov will assist with these rising numbers.
Sazonov-Ivanov had been European champions in 2014 in addition to a German walkover in Kyiv in 2021. He was additionally the runner-up on the Denmark Open in 2020.
Primarily a pure participant establishing assault for the 6-foot-6 Ivanov, Sazonov, himself 6-foot, was recognized for his variations and tactical abilities. Together the Russians reached a career-high rating of World No. 7 in 2017.
India have had a string of influential overseas coaches, from Malaysian Tan Kim Har to Indonesian Flandy Limpele, earlier than Mathias Boe, the extra pragmatic, opened up the opportunity of a not too long ago retired worldwide teaching job. While every coach contributed to boosting India’s confidence in doubles, it was additionally acknowledged that the Indian coaches – Vijaydeep Singh and Arun Vishnu – had been doing a great job on the sphere with Indonesian quick bowlers like Dwi.
“So there was no hurry to bring in a foreign coach as the system was working well. But now Mathias will need to focus on Satwik-Chirag in an important qualifying year, and we were also open to looking ahead to the Indonesians and Malaysians. But Sazonov should be a good addition, ”mentioned the supply. The paperwork and permissions might take a while although, and going by India’s previous experiences, a deal can solely be known as a deal as soon as Sazonov truly lands right here and begins working.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
