CHENNAI: Aiming to win her seventh national title, India's top player Joshna Chinappa on Tuesday declared her differences with the Squash Rockets Federation of India were a thing of past and she had its full support in achieving her ambition of breaking into the top 10 world rankings.
"I am anxious to get into top ten Women International Squash Player Association (WISPA) ranking. But concentrating on winning matches, is my priority on hand," Joshna, the lone Indian woman to win the British Open title, told reporters on the sidelines of 55th ICL National Squash Championship here.
The Chennai girl, ranked 39 in WISPA rankings, said 'There is no point in being at logger heads with the federation and those grey areas are past now. The Federation has given me a call to help me in my endeavours to climb up the ladder on the world scene. I am confident that before the end of the yr, I should go a few notches and tread on the path to make the top ten in rankings'.
Joshna, the youngest Indian sportsperson to hold both senior and junior national titles as a 14-year-old in 2000, said she decided to shift from Egyptian Mohammad Medhaat to coach under Englishman Malcolm Willstrop as she never felt the former to be a coach at this highest level since he was too soft and lenient.
'Malcolm is more technically sound and I love training under him mainly because he is strict and insistent on discipline and work ethics,' she said.
Explaining the differences in coaching methods of the Egyptian and Malcolm, Joshna opined that Malcolm did bring about changes on a few technical aspects of her game like the gripping of the raquet and there were different sparring partners at the court at different times. Malcolm had been showing variety in his coaching methods.
Saying that she believed in herself to translate here latent talent for bigger things, Joshna was categorical in her comment about the competion amoungst the professionals.
"The top 15 in WISPA are tough players and it might to difficult to win over them. But, outside 15 and inside 40, the strength of the players are the same and they are beatable," she said.
On her schedule for the futre, Joshan, who is playing in the nationals here from tomorrow, said 'my next stop will be Malaysia and from there to Singapore for two strong tournaments. Squash is not comparable to tennis in terms of financial gains and prize money. So, the top 15 in WISPA will be competing in these tournaments'.
