Coach who mentored Saina’s early progress is no more

“He ensured she had strong nourishment in the most crucial years alongside training her in the on-court techniques,” Nehwal’s father Dr Harvir Singh recalls.

The 69-year-old coached her occasionally between 2000-2003 at Hyderabad’s Nizam Club. But more than any stroke or training technique,the family most fondly remembers how Ali devoted hours to help the then 10-year-old sharpen a particular piece of footwork or shot that she’d learnt under Md Arif at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium.

“Without any ego,Ali would painstakingly help her practice the same routine by hitting with her. It was like private tuitions,while what she learnt at LB was like the main school,” Harvir recalls,paying tributes to the little-known former coach who never hunted glory even as Nehwal rose in repute.

The tall figure was known to cycle to the Nizam Club — close to the railway station — and Harvir remembers a particularly scorching day in Hyderabad,when both coach Ali and Nehwal braved the sweltering 40 degree heat — when everyone else bunked training — to go around practicing as usual.

“Mahboob Ali always said that his coaching best was reserved for the student who showed the most commitment to train,and he rated Saina very highly even as a sub-junior just for her hard-work,” Harvir says.

Another shuttler who trained at times under Ali was India’s doubles star Jwala Gutta. “I was training mainly under Arif but would go to Mir Mahboob Ali when Arif was not around.”

“He was the one who changed my receiving stance and that was important for my career. The small things always helped. One thing that he never forgot was to feed us biryani and aamras during Id,” Gutta recalls.