145;I should be pulled up for slipping146;

8226; Presume you8217;re asked to explain, what would be your answer?

First of all, I would like to apologise for the debacle. A second place is not what I wanted to offer my country. To be true, I lacked the stamina at the crucial juncture. At 40, I don8217;t have the stamina to put in vigorous practice everyday.

Michael Fereira had once said that irregular practice produces irregular results. That8217;s a very right statement. I just didn8217;t have enough practice.

8226; You also lost a chance to be part of Asian team that will to take on the Europeans in the Hong Kong series that offers a big booty?

It is, but then you can8217;t take credit away from Supoj Saenia of Thailand. He was literally on song. He was playing great and appeared destined to bag the title.

8226; Some people suggest that had you had a foreign coach8217;s services, you would have fared better?

That is a misconception. I have been playing this game at the highest level for almost 27 years and as such know whether I need a coach or not. It was just that things didn8217;t work out for me.

8226; But don8217;t you think we need a foreign coach now?

Yes, we do, but not for our players. We need them to coach our coaches.

8226; What do our coaches lack?

Our coaches lack in communication skills. A coach should have a great rapport with players. A player needs to get warmed up to them.

Coaches should be able to understand players8217; problems and, for that, they should encourage a player to open up. Our coaches also lack professional training, which a foreign coach can provide them.

8226; You coached the UAE team about a decade ago. What was your experience?

Yes, I did coach them during 1994-96 and it was great. They were very receptive and hard working. Initially they were afraid of playing big names, but I told them unless to stretch yourself you cannot improve your game. And look, a decade later they are almost on par with our standards, if not better.

8226; Why did you quit the professional circuit in England?

I quit because I wasn8217;t able to give enough time to my family and business and was feeling guilty about it. When I went to England to play for the first time in 1992, I was probably the 1000th player, but within two years I got up to 107 in the rankings and was playing among the best. When I quit in 1998, I was ranked 65. I8217;m a family man and I just couldn8217;t continue.