Chennai lad Velavan Senthilkumar is the toast of Indian squash now. Deservedly too. The young man, who took time off from school studies to concentrate fully on squash and achieve a few things that he was confident he would, reached the milestone of his career with the Asian junior title first and more recently now the prestigious British Junior Open U-19 title.
As the product of the Indian Squash Academy, he is one more proof of what a structured programme of development can do to a good talent. “We have been expecting this from Vela for some time now. He has done it, made himself and the country proud and given us the kind of answer we have been waiting from him,” said an elated National coach and the key man at the ISA, Cyrus Poncha.
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Poncha should know. Because it was he along with Maj S. Maniam (who pioneered the Academy's structured programme before leaving for his home country, Malaysia last year after more than a decade's stay) who had seen the Velavan when he first arrived around 12 years of age.
His thin and soon to turn lanky frame was one advantage and then his strong mind. In short, he had the qualities and all that was needed was dedication and readiness for hard work. This Don Bosco school lad had that in plenty. That he decided to keep off from future study plans for a year after schooling amply portrays the mindset of this young man.
In many ways, he has a unique status because Velavan is the only Indian who has won both the Asian Junior title and the British Junior Open U-19 title. Saurav Ghosal, currently the most successful of Indian males in the squash circuit had won the British honours 12 years back.
Add to that, Velavan's decoration is the national junior title he retained last year.
The Chennai player is now the most happening young squash talent of the country and naturally, the expectations keep soaring as the New Years gets underway and there are so many more challenges ahead. On paper he remains a junior till March this year and so the Asian junior team championship in Hong Kong in February will be his last hurray in this section and in his current touch and confidence it should be a fair guess that Velavan will make it memorable.
The greatest quality that a rising sports star can imbibe is being level-headed and not to get carried over by laurels. Velavan already has shown his humble facet of his personality by talking of wanting to learn from key opponent but stable mate Abhay Singh.
“I need to be crafty like him,” is his eagerness even as Poncha talks high of Velavan's admirable court movement and reading of his opponents. The national coach believes that this Chennai lad has the makings of one who will go far in squash but and that is a big BUT. The reason: Velavan like others of his age cannot give up on studies totally.
The excellence in squash has now won him an entry in the prestigious Colombia University in USA. True, squash is the area he will remain in close touch because he will represent the University in various events. The sport is a popular one on the University calendar in America.
How much of time can he devote to serious squash and also to studies will determine to what extent he will serve Indian squash and play on the professional circuit. It is not beyond him. Vikram Malhotra, a non-resident Indian in the US is today the next best player after Saurav in PSA rankings and that says much of what can be achieved.
Velavan is going there with higher credentials and to that extent one must take his word that “for me squash will remain most important.”
