A day before the qualifiers of the India Open Super Series, players who are competing in the main draw can afford to take it a bit easy. On court at the Siri Fort Stadium, Carolina Marin, Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma and Shreyansh Jaiswal enjoy a winner-stays-on-court style game. It might be a light hearted practice session but, a sharp pair of eyes watches them.
Watching from the sidelines is a grey-haired Indonesian who has as fine a coaching pedigree as anyone. Mulyo Handoyo was a fixture on the coach's chair a decade ago even as he shaped Taufik Hidayat into the world beater who won the 2005 World Championships and the 2004 Olympic men's singles gold -- the last non-Chinese player to do so.
Handoyo has been brought to India to lift some of the weight of responsibility off Pullela Gopichand's shoulders. With an ever increasing pool of players coming through the ranks -- there are six men and eight women in the main draw of the India Open -- the national coach was finding it difficult to focus on all of them.
Coach Handoyo has only been in the country for a couple of months into a three-year contract, but he believes it is enough time to make an assessment of the talent in India. Handoyo has a clear perspective of Kidambi Srikanth, one of the players he is expected to transform to the next level. Srikanth isn't in the best form. He picked up an injury at last year's Japan Open Super Series and didn't play an international competition for three months.
He made his return at the Syed Modi tournament where he lost to lower ranked compatriot Sai Praneeth in the final. He subsequently had a quarterfinal loss at the German Super Series and then a first round exit at the All England Championships. Srikanth's ranking has slipped and from a high of world number 3, he is currently world number 31.
Coach Handoyo, though, believes there is no doubt the youngster has a touch of greatness. "In India the player with the style closest to Taufik is Srikanth. He has an all-round game that is the same," says Handoyo.
But coach Handoyo knows what the 24-year-old Srikanth lacks as well. "He reminds me of him (Taufik), but he doesn't have the same power," he says. And while Srikanth already has a Super Series title - the 2014 China Open - Handoyo says he needs to get stronger mentally too.
"He needs to develop that winning mentality once again," he says. Handoyo knows Srikanth will find his way back. "Srikanth has the ability to be with any one at the highest level and he has the experience to get him back there too. He needs to train harder and be more focused. But he has the experience already so he knows what he has to do to get better results," he says.
Handoyo admits it won't be an easy, but he is used to being a hard-task master. At a camp in Jakarta last year, he reportedly told players "Never despair and complain, and especially don't be lazy about exercise." He doesn't expect the same ideology to transfer immediately to India. "The difference is that in India, the players are not able to train with the same intensity. But it is a step by step learning," he says.
Handoyo remains optimistic about his prospects in India. "India has a lot of potential. Gopichand has a plan in place and I am confident of the road ahead," he says.