By Tony Mariadass who was recently in Trivandrum, Kerala
The Yogendran and Sugita show in Trivandrum
Former national badminton players, husband and
wife team of K. Yogendran and K. Sugita are making waves in Trivandrum, Kerala
with their Yogendran International Badminton Academy (YIBA) set up last
November.
YIBA
is the latest addition to Sports Hub Academy training partnership network in
Trivandrum. The key objective of the academy is to develop badminton in Kerala
and India at large with the support of the Kerala Badminton Association.
It
is the first of its kind international academy focused on high performance
badminton coaching.
Nestled
inside the 34-acre world-class campus of Greenfield International stadium in
Karyavattom (Trivandrum, Kerala), the facilities offered includes 16 well-lit
courts with gym, Olympic size swimming pool facilities, squash courts, basketball
courts along with hostel, food, nutrition guide and physiotherapy facilities.
The
Sports Hub Academy is the center for sports excellence for grassroots and talent
development in India. The Academy grassroots level programmes are scientifically
designed to help train and mold an aspiring child into a wholesome and
successful sportsman. Along with the world-class facilities offered, the linear
series of training programme levels enable children to improve their skills by
folds as they progress across multiple levels including introduction,
development, intermediate, emerging, advanced and professional. Currently
training programmes are offered for cricket, swimming, football, basketball and
badminton.
The badminton academy is driven by a
dedicated team of local and international coaches who are handpicked and
trained by Yogendran.
Yogendran, needs
no introduction having been part of the Malaysian National Team along with the
greats of the game such as Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Hafiz Hashim. He has played
at the highest levels of the game and has participated in tournaments such as
All England and World Championships. He was ranked as high as 32 in the world
and was a well-known singles player with several international titles. He has
trained under badminton legend Morten Frost from Denmark, Chinese coaches Li
Mao and Zhou Kejian, Malaysian greats Datuk Misbun Sidek, Datuk Tey Seu Bock,
Wong Tat Meng and Indra Gunawan from Indonesia.
After
successfully completing a long span of playing career and winning many notable
international titles, he started his coaching career at New Vision Badminton
Academy Malaysia (NVBA) Malaysia, which he started alongside former Malaysian
international player Yeoh Kay Bin and childhood friend Manojkumar. Ten years
into its operations, NVBA is one of the best badminton training centres in
Malaysia and players from all over the globe train at the centre in Petaling
Jaya.
In the last
decade, Yogendran and NVBA have played a strong role by creating Olympians such
as Jacob Maliekal from Africa, Yara Azad from Iraq, Lino Munoz from Mexico.
Many players qualified for the prestigious World Championships, such as Jacob
and Julien Paul from Mauritius.
Having
produced many world class players from Malaysia, he decided to move to India in
2016 to tap into a larger pool of talented players to produce the next world
champion.
For this, he
had partnered with former player and badminton coach Alex Tharakan and
badminton enthusiast and entrepreneur, Sreekumar Gopinath to start this academy
called YIBA.
After two
years in Chennai, he moved to Trivandrum on the invite of Kerala Badminton Association
to form a partnership with KSFL Sports Hub.
With its state
of art facility at Greenfields Stadium Karyavattom, the centre aims at being
first of its kind international high-performance badminton training centre in
India.
Having players
and coaches from across the globe, it is one of the only few elite centres in
India where players from all over the world come to train.
From the time
they began, they have hosted the Mauritius national team, players from Uganda,
Malaysia and United States to train at the centre preparing for various
international tournaments. Along with the international players, they also have
players from almost all the states in India who have come to achieve their
goals.
“YIBA’s main
objective is to create champions in badminton and to be among the best training
institute in the world. For this, we would work hard towards training our
players, equipping them to compete in the top tournaments such as Olympics and
World Championships,” said Yogendran when met at his centre in Trivandrum.
“Our immediate
goal is to prepare our elite international players to compete and win in
tournaments to qualify for the upcoming Olympics. We believe in collective
responsibility, where in coaches and players work hand in hand to achieve our
goals,” added Yogendran who is also the chief coach of Mauritius National
Badminton Team since 2017 and had his contract renewed for another two years
recently.
“The reason we choose Trivandrum was
because of their state-of-the-art facilities - 16 wooden courts, Olympic sized
swimming pool, fully equipped gym and the world class cricket stadium, which
makes the venue recognised.”
During his
playing career, Yogendran, used to coach part time in order to earn money as
well as improve his own game. It was during this time that he developed a
passion to train and produce an Olympic champion.
On why he
decided to move to India, he explained: “The opportunity and support given by
the state government to and YIBA was the main reason. Access to
state-of-the-art facilities and the opportunity that allowed me to challenge
myself to become a better coach and to be able to produce world-class players
from a country with a population of billions of people.”
At YIBA, Yogendran is assisted in by Alex, who has vast
coaching experience and his wife Sugita who has played in the All England,
Swiss and French Open badminton championships and in the Thomas/Uber Cup
competition in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2006.
Sugita is also the backbone of the YIBA as she is responsible for
the management of the Academy.
The other coaches in YIBA coaching staff setup are all locals - Kamaldeep
Singh (senior coach), Raja M, Vishnu VG, Varghese KC, Marisamy G and Agilan A.
Yogendran is always in the lookout to improve the standard of his
Academy and there is a strong possibility that in the coming months, a list of
high calibre coaches will be joining the coaching team in YIBA
YIBA also have an alliance with an
academy in China headed by legendary badminton coach, Li Mao and Malaysian
international player and coach, Yeoh Kay Bin.
“Some improvement has been implemented in sports hub
since we came in partnership in the last 8 months - we have installed new light
system for the entire badminton courts (16). Started installing rubberised
courts.
“We have also hosted the All Kerala Sub Junior (Under
11, 13 and 15) 2019 (400-500 participants) as well as the All India Junior
Under 19 Ranking Tournament 2019 (1000 participants). We also hosted the
Trivandrum District Badminton Tournament from the 7th – 10th
June 2019.”
Yogendran said some notable players who have
had training stints in the academy include Chou Tien Chen (Chinese Taipei), Hu
Yun (Hong Kong) and Deng Xuan (China),
International players currently and intermittently
training in YIBA, include Goh Giap Chin, Sim Wee Peng, Lim Xuan and Letshanaa
Karupathevan from Malaysia, Julien Paul from Mauritius, Aisha Nakiyemba from
Uganda and the Mauritius National Team (Men and Women).
Julien has qualified for the World Championships 2019
in Switzerland and is in contention for the Olympics next year.
Yogendran said he has 101 beginners and 91 intermediate
and advance trainees for a total of 192 trainees with his Academy.
“Our junior
boys were top 10 in the state have started winning titles since joining us. We
are pleasantly surprised and excited to see what the future holds for our
players,” said the 37-year-old Yogendran, the same age as his wife.
Yogendran and Sugita
and their two children – four year-old Mischa Anne and three year-old Roen
Dhavin, together with Yogendran’s parents, are all relocated in Trivamdrum
since last year.
Indeed, Yogendran and Sugita have done
Malaysia proud internationally with a well-established and managed Academy.
Asked whether he plans to play a bigger role
in Malaysia besides his Academy which is run by this other coaches, he revealed
that he was invited to a Townhall Session sent to clubs by the Ministry of
Sports in March to discuss current Malaysian badminton hierarchy; the role of
BAM and State BA, relationship between BAM and clubs invited for the Townhall session
and the role of Badminton clubs in development of Malaysian badminton.
The Sports Minister and his deputy, Datuk Seri
Norza Zakaria (BAM president), Datuk Wira Lim Teong Kiat (Dep BAM president)
and Datuk Ng Chin Chai (Gen Sec BAM) attended.
Following which, a few who attended the
session were asked to join a task force committee.
“I attended the Townhall Session and was asked
to join the Task Force and attend a meeting end of July, which I could not
because of my overseas engagement,” said Yogendran.
Ends.
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