Karunaratne laments over missing coach
View(s):Sri Lanka’s badminton and London Olympics standout, Niluka Karunaratne, revealed that his preparation for the forthcoming Badminton World Championships in Guangzhou China has been greatly stymied by the absence of national coach Shankar Annamalai, a predicament he says the Sri Lanka Badminton Association has yet to resolve.
Annamalai is currently on annual leave back in his native Malaysia, and were he not to return, Karunaratne will have to face the daunting prospect of competing at the tournament, which runs from August 5- August 11, without a coach.
“I informed the Sri Lanka Badminton Association that I have been selected for the World Championships and I told them that I need proper training and I need proper preparation to participate at this event and achieve something,” Karunaratne declared.
“Many people are looking at my performances and aiming to beat me in the international arena because I have done well in international badminton. So I informed them, but the thing is today I can’t see anything happening.”
Describing his training route heading into these championships as “not so smooth”, Karunaratne said that without the necessary groundwork, success at such a tournament, where the level of competition is of a very high standard, would be hard to come by.
“Mental preparation and physical preparation should go together in sports. Both have to be joined in order for someone to go on court and perform. When both combine only then can someone get their optimum performances. So my preparation is not enough,” he says.
Nevertheless, Karunaratne explains that he is capable and used to training himself and reveals that regardless of the odds stacked against him he is ready to give a wholehearted effort to further the cause of Sri Lankan badminton.
Speaking of the local game, he asserts that he has great faith in the country’s badminton talent, but it needs to be carefully harnessed and structured if it is ever going to yield sizable dividends.
“We can compete at the top level. We have the potential. The main thing though is do we have a professional vision to bring local players to an international standard? If you take India, the first top ten male and female players participate in at least 16- 20 international tournaments a year. They have six to eight national coaches in one academy. They were like Sri Lanka before but they have taken decisions to bring the sport to an international level.
“We can’t train only for one month and go for an international tournament and expect to win it. Nobody can do it. Even if you are the world number one. Also take as an example, China, the best badminton-playing country in the world. They start focusing on 2016 (Olympics) from now onwards. They have already decided who is going to play for them at the next Olympics and they have been training them. So if one of the most developed countries is planning like that how should we plan?” Niluka states.
The 28-year-old added that he has yet to see any amendment made to the sport’s national policy since the arrival of the new administration at the badminton association.
“At the moment I don’t see any changes. I don’t mind who is coming and going. What matters is what they can do for the players. What they can do to improve the standard of badminton in the country.”
Karunaratne captained the Sri Lankan contingent at the London Olympics and emerged the country’s best performer at the games when he shocked eight-ranked Kenichi Tago of Japan 2-0 to book a place in the pre-quarterfinals against Parupalli Kashyap of India.
Despite eventually falling to Kashyap, many experts acknowledge that of the two men, Karunaratne actually played the better badminton during the majority of the match.
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