India coach Patra looks to achieve his intl medal dreams through his wards
Gymnast Rakesh Patra competed in numerous global events over his long career but despite his best efforts he could never finish on the podium in international meets.
A specialist in the 'Still Ring' apparatus, Patra's best remained two fourth-placed finishes at the Szombathely FIG World Challenge Cup in Hungary in 2023 and the Melbourne Gymnastics World Cup in 2018.
However, he now has a chance to achieve the targets as a coach that he failed to do as an athlete after being appointed a coach of India's national men's gymnastics team earlier this year.
And his first big event will be the FIG Artistic Gymnastics 12th Senior Asian Championships to be held in Jecheon, South Korea, from June 5-8 where India has sent a four-member senior team comprising Yogeshwar Singh, Tapan Mohanty, Shayan Sharma and Jatin Kanojia.
Speaking of his expectations from the upcoming tournament, Patra, who hails from Odisha, said, "It's going to be a tough tournament but I expect them to perform well and make the finals."
He also has high hopes from the junior squad that comprises five players, including Harschit Damodharan, who won the national junior all-round title in Pune earlier this year.
While guiding the players to put up a strong performance at the event will certainly be on his mind, he is already looking into the future and has some plans in place.
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"Seniors like Yogeshwar, Tapan and Jatin have lots of potential and all of them specialise in one event or the other. So we're not focusing on all-around performance but on making them event specialists. Our goal is to win medals in specific events," said Patra, who completed the FIG Level 2 Men's Artistic Gymnastic Coaching course in Sweden last year.
Asked what he has been focusing on while working with the gymnasts, he further remarked, "I have to monitor the kids, help them and take care of everything.
It's important to understand their mindset and make them feel free and solid mentally. I've made modifications to my training programme to make it enjoyable and effective."
While Patra did fail to win international medals, he kept finishing on podiums in domestic events and even won a gold medal in Still Rings at the nationals earlier this year. But he suffered from a number of injuries and had to undergo surgeries multiple times.
And that will be one major area he will look to address when working with the athletes.
Besides that, he also pointed out some other key aspects that he wants to work on.
"First and foremost, understanding the players' mindset is crucial. Next area is the technical aspects where we lag. We will need to learn that from international coaches and in order to do that I have been regularly staying in touch with Scott Hann (GB), Thierry Aymes (France), Paul Hall (GB) and Yilmaz Goktekin (Turkey)," he added.
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