Sri Lanka enlists foreign squash coach amid heartburn | Sunday Observer

Sri Lanka enlists foreign squash coach amid heartburn

6 March, 2022

Sri Lanka Squash (SLS) has once again obtained the services of Pakistani national coach Rehman Gul to be the island’s coach from next week.

Rehman was Sri Lanka’s national coach from 2000 to 2001 and is said to have succeeded with the team at the Asian Junior Championship in Chennai, India in 2001.

Sri Lankan coaches have acknowledged that although Rehman is a Level One qualified coach he has immense experience having coached in Asia and in most parts of the western world.

He will be Sri Lanka’s coach until after the Commonwealth Games that will be held in September.

Rehman is expected to earn a monthly salary of Rs 800,000 which will be met by the Sports Ministry on the advice of the National Sports Council. However, his work and results will be reviewed before his contract can be extended.

But some Sri Lankan coaches claim that there are two Level III coaches and 14 Level II coaches in Sri Lanka who are also capable of coaching the national team.

“Don’t we have qualified coaches in Sri Lanka capable enough to coach the national team,” asked one coach.

Presently Gihan Suwaris is the men’s coach while Naduni Gunawardena is the women’s coach and both are level II coaches and have done quite well with the Sri Lankan players.

Both are now expected to work with Rehman under the high performance program.

Meanwhile leading squash players in Sri Lanka are asking for sparring partners that they say is the only way forward to improve the standards of local national players.

Rehman’s additional duty will be to train the trainers as the local coaches are considered still short of foreign experience.

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