you are here: Home /
 

Coach who mentored Saina’s early progress is no more

By Kabir Mandrekar
Updated Thursday, 11 August 2011 11:08:33 - IST (UTC +5:30)

He was known to lecture Saina Nehwal to not expend too much energy, and urging her to increase her repertoire of strokes, but Mir Mahboob Ali — one of the shuttler’s earliest coaches who passed away in Hyderabad last week — will be best remembered for convincing her to make one of the most important dietary alterations of her life.
Hailing from a strict vegetarian family, Nehwal was patiently goaded by Ali to start her meat intake and other non-vegetarian fare, to help supplement her dietary requirements in her early years.
“He ensured she had strong nourishment in the most crucial years alongside training her in the on-court techniques,” Nehwal’s father Dr Harvir Singh recalls.
The 69-year-old coached her occasionally between 2000-2003 at Hyderabad’s Nizam Club. But more than any stroke or training technique, the family most fondly remembers how Ali devoted hours to help the then 10-year-old sharpen a particular piece of footwork or shot that she’d learnt under Md Arif at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium.
“Without any ego, Ali would painstakingly help her practice the same routine by hitting with her. It was like private tuitions, while what she learnt at LB was like the main school,” Harvir recalls, paying tributes to the little-known former coach who never hunted glory even as Nehwal rose in repute.
The tall figure was known to cycle to the Nizam Club — close to the railway station — and Harvir remembers a particularly scorching day in Hyderabad, when both coach Ali and Nehwal braved the sweltering 40 degree heat — when everyone else bunked training — to go around practicing as usual.
“Mahboob Ali always said that his coaching best was reserved for the student who showed the most commitment to train, and he rated Saina very highly even as a sub-junior just for her hard-work,” Harvir says.
Another shuttler who trained at times under Ali was India’s doubles star Jwala Gutta. “I was training mainly under Arif but would go to Mir Mahboob Ali when Arif was not around.”
“He was the one who changed my receiving stance and that was important for my career. The small things always helped. One thing that he never forgot was to feed us biryani and aamras during Id,” Gutta recalls. [indianexpress.com]

Tags: Kabir Mandrekar Coach who mentored Saina’s early progress is no more

  • MUMBAI: The last time Muslims and Dalits created a joint political platform in Maharashtra was in the 1980s. Led by former smuggler and don Haji Mastan, the Dalit Muslim Suraksha Mahasangh (DMSM)...

    2012-05-07 17:11:22 |
    0 comments
  • MUMBAI: Chemical analysis of a powder-like substance collected from a Byculla apartment where two suspected Pakistani 13/7 bombers stayed has proved that it is the deadly explosive RDX. The...

    2012-05-03 17:34:23 |
    0 comments
  • Srinagar : For Abdul Rashid Khan, it has been a long wait for justice. Twelve years after his father Juma Khan was allegedly picked from his house, killed in a fake encounter and dubbed a foreign...

    2012-05-03 17:30:23 |
    0 comments
  • New Delhi : The Supreme Court gave the Army full “discretion” to choose between a court martial and a criminal trial for seven officers accused of killing five persons in an encounter in...

    2012-05-03 17:27:07 |
    0 comments
  • New Delhi. Syed Ghulam Akber, member Markazi Majlis-e-Shoora (Central Advisory Council) and former Secretary Jamaat-e-Islami Hind breathed his last at Care Hospital in Hyderabad at about 1 p.m....

    2012-04-30 20:38:08 |
    0 comments
  • Government responsible for Communal Violence in Hyderabad city RSS outfits Communalizing the situation and polarizing population by developing Communal Sentiments. Introduce and pass Communal...

    2012-04-25 11:01:25 |
    0 comments
  • Mumbai: The Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 all-India knockout tournament could not have begun in a better way. A pre-quarterfinal match that should have been won by Karnataka comfortably in the...

    2012-03-24 10:43:12 |
    0 comments
  • SYDNEY: A clinical Sri Lanka rode on captain Mahela Jayawardene's unbeaten half century to register their first win of the cricket tri-series with an eight-wicket crushing of Australia in a...

    2012-02-18 15:40:17 |
    0 comments
  • Adelaide: Needing four to win off the last ball, MS Dhoni's pick-up drive over the covers fetched India three runs that locked both India and Sri Lanka at 236 to end the fifth match of the CB series...

    2012-02-14 20:07:16 |
    0 comments
  • Melbourne: India revived their Australian tour with a convincing eight-wicket win over the home side in the second Twenty20 international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. Australia won...

    2012-02-03 20:16:20 |
    0 comments
  • Perth, Jan 13: A familiar batting collapse saw Australia bundle out India for a paltry 161, few minutes after tea, on the first day of the third cricket Test at WACA, here on Friday. It took only 32...

    2012-01-13 15:01:50 |
    0 comments
  • Sydney:The historic 100th international ton continued to elude Sachin Tendulkar as India slumped to an innings and 68-run defeat in the second cricket Test against Australia, who have now taken an...

    2012-01-06 12:40:42 |
    0 comments
  • As in Brisbane nine months ago this was a day for the record books with Alastair Cook to the fore. However, the landmark of a triple hundred eluded him when he fell for 294 as England built up a...

    2011-08-13 12:07:34 |
    0 comments
  • Coach who mentored Saina’s early progress is no...

    He was known to lecture Saina Nehwal to not expend too much energy, and urging her to increase her repertoire of strokes, but Mir Mahboob Ali — one of the shuttler’s earliest coaches who passed...

    2011-08-11 11:26:33 |
    0 comments
  • London : As Zaheer Khan sat sipping tea on the Lord’s balcony while his team mates warmed up before the start of play on Day Two of the first Test, the intrigue over the thigh strain that India’s...

    2011-07-23 12:24:58 |
    0 comments
  • Lords: India 17 for 0 trail England 474 for 8 decl. (Pietersen 202*, Prior 71, Praveen 5-106) by 457 runs They were calling for his head before the start of the season. Come big series, tough...

    2011-07-23 12:19:08 |
    0 comments