When it comes to playing badminton, even the simplest of things such as your grip on the racquet matters and the fact that not many professionals take good notice of it led international coach M.J. Mohanachandran to resort to the only solution — write a book!
After contemplating the idea for over two years, the coach came up with his much talked about book, Play to Win, which readily received appreciation from the legendary Prakash Padukone, national chief coach P. Gopichand and other international coaches.
“In the book, I have included pictures and sketches of both correct and incorrect moves and the players can compare it with their techniques,” said the author.
Mohanachandran has been coaching shuttlers for the last two decades and he was instrumental in nurturing world no. 7 doubles player V. Diju, world no. 15 mixed doubles players Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas, world junior team champion P.C. Thulasi and youth Olympics silver medalist H.S. Pronnoy.
“During our times, books on badminton were difficult to come by and we had to depend almost entirely on watching seniors play. I hope young players, especially those who do not have access to expert badminton coaching can make maximum use of Play to Win,” wrote Prakash Padukone in the foreword.
More than 200 pictures and illustrations are used in the book that also has chapters on diet, nutrition, common injuries and treatment methods, psychology of players and fitness training.