Squash Body Hits Out At Dipika Pallikal For Voicing Coaching Concerns

From Dipika Pallikal to Sourav Ghoshal, the country's top players have lamented the absence of a foreign coach since the exit of Achraf El Karargui days before the Commonwealth Games in March
Squash body hits out at Dipika Pallikal for voicing coaching concerns
Dipika Pallikal

From Dipika Pallikal to Sourav Ghoshal, the country's top players have lamented the absence of a foreign coach since the exit of Achraf El Karargui days before the Commonwealth Games in March
The Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) yesterday hit out at Dipika Pallikal, one of the country's top players, for voicing concerns over the lack of a qualified foreign coach. From Pallikal to Sourav Ghoshal, the country's top players have lamented the absence of a foreign coach since the exit of Achraf El Karargui days before the Commonwealth Games in March.

"It is unfortunate that at a time when the focus should be on the Asian Games, an effort is being made to disrupt the mindset of all concerned with the preparations for the Games," the SRFI said. Dipika had claimed that the exit of Egyptian coach Karargui was a blow to the players and that she did not consider national coach Cyrus Poncha and Bhuvaneshwari Kumari as coaches.

A federation spokesman, referring to the departure of Karargui, said he had left due to personal reasons and one of which was the squabbling between the two leading women Indian players. "To claim that his absence had affected the preparations is an attempt by Dipika to vent her own frustration at the federation for not accepting her request to attest/ratify A Parthiban as her coach to enable the latter to draw the financial benefits which come under the awards scheme," it said.