Strong participation and all-round awareness were the key features of the SEA Games squash event
Two years ago, when Indian national coach Cyrus Poncha went to Singapore for the SEA Games as the Technical Delegate of the Asian Squash Federation, he was the lone Indian in the midst of officials of the other countries in the South East Asia region. This time around, he had one more Indian for company - in the form of Yogendra Singh, who is a WSF referee.
Poncha felt that the opportunity to run the competition again as an ASF Technical Delegate was not just an honour for him, but a reflection of the stature of Indian squash in the international eyes.
What struck him most at this edition held in Kuala Lumpur was the enthusiastic participation of the 11 countries overall and the six specifically in squash - namely Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and hosts Malaysia. Not just that, there was overwhelming public awareness too for the Games, which could be seen from the good attendances at the various venues, including the squash facility.
The countries in the region clearly enjoyed a healthy rivalry according to Poncha, and there was also an admirable restraint that stopped players from pushing their domination too far. This was of particular interest in a squash competition where Malaysia, an overwhelming favourite to take away all the nine gold medals at stake, decided to skip the two jumbo doubles events and instead targeted the remaining seven.
In normal circumstances, winning the seven gold medals would have been a foregone conclusion for Malaysia. But as it happens in sports, even the best of plans can go awry.
Malaysia unexpectedly went down to Philippines in the men's team event semi-finals, and ended up winning only the bronze! So it had to be six gold medals and a bronze for Malaysia in the end, which was an intriguing sidelight from the squash arena, Poncha said.
The squash facility was world class, with 10 glass back courts in a row, all put up at the time of the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in the country. In addition, there was an all-glass court as the centre-piece of attraction, effectively meant for the finals. Appropriately, the centre court had been named 'Nicol David Squash Arena', after the greatest Malaysian living legend.
With the organizing system working like a well-oiled machine, which included the conducting of the squash events too, Poncha had plenty of time to watch the various matches. “Clearly, in terms of the standard, Indians could have had a field day if they were there. Having said that, I must also add that Malaysia impressed with a strong bench strength, a reflection of a good depth in talent,” he said.
Overall it was smooth sailing for Poncha as the competition's chief. That, as the Chairman of the jury - an additional responsibility he had - Poncha had nothing (read no issues) to deliberate on, was a reflection of how smoothly the competition had gone.
Indeed, for this genial man now stationed in Chennai as the head of the Indian Squash Academy, the trip was like just another day in office. Nothing more, nothing less.