Saturday September 8, 2012

Squash: Players need to be committed to changes to see results, says Genever

By KNG ZHENG GUAN

KUALA LUMPUR: National elite squash coach Peter Genever admits that some players in the national team have not taken to his training methods yet.

He also said that a give-and-take attitude is necessary if the players hope to improve under him.

Last month, 22-year-old Kamran Khan said he was unhappy training under Genever and that he wanted to explore other options.

Kamran, who is now the national No. 3 following Mohd Azlan Iskandar’s retirement, seems to have a point as his rankings have stalled around the top 60-70 in the world.

Even fellow youngsters Ivan Yuen and Mohd Asyraf Azan have not shown exceptional improvement since Genever’s arrival in January.

However, it is unlike that Kamran will be allowed to explore other options as the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) look set to back Genever.

“The players have been doing okay since I came in and it’s true that some of them did not embrace the changes that I’ve put in place,” explained Genever.

“They haven’t been anything revolutionary, they’re just structural changes where I decided to engage the support staff more, in particular from the National Sports Institute (NSI).

“It does require a little more work from the players in terms of feedback. Some of them are just not comfortable with this structural change.

“Before I joined SRAM, the players’ results were not that extraordinary ... even now their results aren’t very satisfactory. But this is an on-going process which requires a little more time.

“There needs to be some give-and-take from both sides and most importantly the players have to be committed to the changes if they hope to achieve results.”

For a start, Genever is looking for improved performances from the national elite back-up players in the CIMB Malaysian Open, which starts on Monday.

“The qualifying for the Malaysian Open is a lot tougher this year and it’ll be great if they can win and qualify for the main draw,” he said.

“I want to see strong fighting performances even if they lose.”

Kamran, Ivan, Asyraf as well as national juniors Mohd Addeen Idrakie, Sanjay Singh Chal and Gurshan Singh will be in action in the first qualifying round on Monday.

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