Chennai is his second home

Fifteen years ago, when he made a career shift to Chennai from Mumbai, little did Cyrus Poncha realise that this city was to be his second home. He assisted one of the best squash coaches in the world Major Maniam in the academy that was to be launched in Chennai, he has remained with it even now and he does not even look beyond the work place here. 

“I came here with an open mind and adapted to the conditions. Yes, in a sense, this city has grown in me in the last decade or so,” confesses Poncha, now the National coach and the only Dronacharya in the game. “In a way, it was difficult to shift from Mumbai to Chennai but thanks to the excellent facilities provided in the academy, I forgot everything else and took the plunge.” 

The first few years were difficult because he had not married then and he shuttled between Chennai and Mumbai but once he settled down in life, there was no looking back.

There were two important persons in Cyrus’ life in Chennai: one, the then president of the Squash Rackets Federation of India N Ramachandran and Major Maniam. “But for Ramachandran’s initiative, squash would not have been the same in India and Chennai,” says Poncha. “And as a coach, I have no words to describe Major, who put a system in place for a long-term coaching programme and it was a fabulous experience.” True, Cyrus is the best judge when it comes to commenting on the state of Indian squash, then and now. He moved from a place that was considered the be-all and end-all of squash before Chennai changed the equations dramatically in the last 15 years. 

The significant part of the academy was Major and Cyrus set targets for themselves and Indian squash and they religiously achieved them too. “It was unbelievable growth. The results started coming fast and three of them getting into the top 20 was outstanding,” recollects Poncha. 

The three were: Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal and Sourav Ghosal. Joshna and Dipika became No 10 in the World in PSA rankings and Sourav stayed in the top 15/20 for a long time. “It was a dream,” exclaims Poncha. The coach, who became a Dronacharya 10 years ago, does not want to dwell too much on his laurels but insists that the credit should go to Ramachandran, who put his personal funds into the academy to change the face of the sport. 

“There was no dedicated squash centre in the country,” says Poncha. “Now we have players coming here (Chennai) from all over India to train.” He says nothing has changed since Ramachandran has become the president of the World Squash Federation. 

Poncha picks Sourav Ghosal’s British Open junior title in 2004 as the landmark result, though there were more important wins to follow for the academy. “That sort of set the ball rolling and you may add the Asian Games team gold in 2014 as another high point. Poncha has big challenge now that Major Maniam is not there (since two months ago) but the system is in place so he need not worry.