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Ex-national coach aims for smashing results from new squash academy

SINGAPORE — When Ibrahim Gul first joined the Singapore Squash Rackets Association (SSRA) as its national coach in 2014, he was surprised to find himself teaching the basics of the sport to its national players.

(Second from left) National players Samuel Kang, Vivian Rhamanan, coach Ibrahim Gul (centre) and their team mates. Gul plans to introduce an innovative training and playing technology to get young people and adults playing — and hooked on — the sport here. Photo: Singapore Squash Rackets Association

(Second from left) National players Samuel Kang, Vivian Rhamanan, coach Ibrahim Gul (centre) and their team mates. Gul plans to introduce an innovative training and playing technology to get young people and adults playing — and hooked on — the sport here. Photo: Singapore Squash Rackets Association

SINGAPORE — When Ibrahim Gul first joined the Singapore Squash Rackets Association (SSRA) as its national coach in 2014, he was surprised to find himself teaching the basics of the sport to its national players.

According to him, some senior and junior members were still using the traditional V-shaped or clenched fist grip to wield their racquets, while the sport’s professional athletes had already moved on to a different, more effective grip.

It is an issue that Gul — who was previously an assistant coach with the Pakistani national team — plans to fix in his new job.

The 35-year-old parted ways with the SSRA early last month to start his own squash school — the Gul Academy — with his younger brother, national player Waseem Gul, and another partner. Gul’s departure comes some 18 months after he led the national team to a first-ever South-east Asian Games gold in 20 years in 2015 when Vivian Rhamanan and Marcus Phua won the men’s jumbo doubles title.

While his departure will be a blow to the national team, Gul stressed that he will continue to contribute to Singapore squash.

Gul’s father, Rahim, had previously worked with local squash legends Peter Hill and Zainal Abidin when he was the national coach during the sport’s golden era in the 1980s, and Gul hopes that he will unearth and groom the Republic’s next squash champion.

“I decided to leave the SSRA because I had better opportunities to expand squash in Singapore,” the Pakistani told TODAY.

“I’m still a part of Singapore squash, developing the sport at a lower level and bringing the youth up.

“My vision is to develop youngsters for Singapore squash and the national team. We will talent-scout, groom players from junior level — nine to 12 years old, 12 to 14, and the different age groups … we have to start from the basics.

“Squash is not only about fitness — if you have the skills, you can go very far. My plan is to develop an Asian junior champion for Singapore, and I believe we can do it.”

The Gul Academy has already signed on 30 children, aged between eight and 11, ahead of its official opening in March.

It will offer training programmes across three levels: Beginner, intermediate and long-term development to train top-level athletes.

There are also plans to introduce an innovative training and playing technology to get young people and adults playing — and hooked on — the sport here.

Gul also plans to bring in Professional Squash Association tournaments here to beef up the local events calendar.

Even as Singapore squash works to revive its flagging fortunes and recapture its glory days, Gul said that a lot more work needs to be done by the local sports authorities. The sport that once produced world-beaters such as Zainal and Hill has seen a dip in popularity among Singaporeans, while the number of public squash courts has gone down from 300 in 1990 to just 19 in 2015.

To improve, Singapore needs to build more facilities, work on squash at the grassroots level, fund its national athletes and expose them to more high-level tournaments, said Gul.

“We have enough talents in Singapore, but we lack the facilities,” he said.

“Squash must also be introduced at the school level so that they can scout more talents. They need to come up with a plan to send players to the United States Junior Open and British Junior Open, and set up a professional men’s and women’s team.

“I don’t see any (financial) support for players … they should be getting paid (to play). Not every player is like (national swimmer) Joseph Schooling, whose father spent S$1 million on him.”

The SSRA have since hired former Malaysian national coach Allan Soyza to replace former technical director Sandra Wu in their hunt for SEA Games and Asian Games glory.

While Soyza has told local media that Singaporean players suffer from a lackadaisical mindset during competitions, Gul disagreed with his assessment, pointing to the dedication and commitment of national players, who split their time between full-time work or studies and training.

Despite the challenges facing the sport, Gul believes his former charges are good for gold in the men’s jumbo doubles and international doubles in the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur in August.

He is also optimistic that they will achieve SSRA president Woffles Wu’s target of a first-ever gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

“I think we have a good chance for a podium position at the Asian Games in 2018 if there is funding, as there are players who can do it,” he said.

“SSRA is on the right track, and I really hope that they keep going.”

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