It is one of those few feel-good stories in India-Pakistan relations: An Indian coach for Pakistan's national-level tennis players. So Birbal Wadhera — who runs the Chandigarh Club Tennis Academy back home — has been getting considerable media attention here despite the preoccupation with the Osama bin Laden story.
Arriving in Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of bin Laden's killing with considerable apprehensions of what the situation may be like here, Mr. Wadhera has been coaching 25 Pakistani players — including Davis Cup-squad members Yasir Khan and Jalil Khan — since May 5. Another 25 players will be coached by him in the second phase of his month-long camp.
His camp has already drawn attention and requests have come in from the Sports Ministries of Khyer-Pukhtoonkhwa and Sindh to conduct similar training sessions in their respective provinces. However, visa restrictions prevent him from accepting these requests, Mr. Wadhera said in a fleeting interaction at the sprawling facility of the Pakistan Tennis Federation in the federal capital as his trainees brave the scorching afternoon heat to prepare for a selection under his watch.
Of the view that Pakistani players have as much talent as Indian players, Mr. Wadhera insists that one major difference which was also holding them back was the absence of international tournament exposure. Such being the case, he hopes to use his experience as coach of Pakistani players to make out a case for an India-Pak competition as this would be cost-effective unlike playing in any other country.
This is the second time PTF has got Mr. Wadhera — a former senior coach at the National Tennis Academy in Gurgaon — to come to Pakistan to coach. He first came in 2004, built a rapport and realised that after overcoming the initial hesitation — normal in India-Pak engagements — there was really not much of a difference. “We play in the same weather conditions, we speak the same language and we relate to the same things,” he noted; arguing that sports can be an effective tool of diplomacy.
