18k followers, Olympic medal: Sindhu’s coach Park’s India takeaways

Last month when PV Sindhu’s South Korean coach Park Tae Sang boarded the flight for Tokyo Games, he was a social media nobody with a mere 328 Instagram followers. Within days of Sindhu winning the historic bronze, Park’s phone had a notification overload.

“Oh, it’s crazy, crazy, crazy! Just a second,” he says before coitus interruptus his phone to point out the present count of on the brink of 18,000, majority of them being Indians. So wont to seeing national coach P Gopichand on the sidelines for significant games, India wanted to understand about the calm coach with a serene smile.

The new-found fame during a foreign land has come at a price and may be a results of a troublesome decision he took. taking over this pandemic-time assignment meant Park has been faraway from his young family for an extended time.

“My 4-year-old daughter (Soyu) would call me a day and say, ‘Papa when are you coming home? I felt very sad sometimes . After the pandemic, it had been very tough on behalf of me and Sindhu. for nearly two months we couldn’t practice. But as soon because the cases went a touch down we started practice and that i decided to not attend Korea because it might further affect her training,” he says.

“Since last February I even have met my family for 13 days. One-three, not three-zero,” says the 42-year-old coach.

Before he landed in India, Park had to require a serious call. on reflection he feels it had been one among the simplest decisions he has taken.

After resigning as South Korea’s national coach, Park received a call from his school , Dongeui University, to coach juniors. But that was also the time he got an unexpected text message from the Indians to coach the men’s singles players.

Park knew it might be a demanding job but he had an unfulfilled dream that the comfortable university job on the brink of home wouldn’t fulfil — winning an Olympic medal. Adjusting to India too took a while . Initially, Park was staying at a Korean guest house in Hyderabad and located food suited his taste buds. But since they shut shop during the pandemic, Park had to rent an apartment and do his own cooking.

“I miss Korean food. But i prefer Indian food too. Butter chicken, stir-fried chicken, tandoori chicken, paneer, dosa and lassi drink are my favourites.”

Even before he joined Indian badminton, Park knew what he was signing for. As a player, Park, a 2002 Asian Games gold medallist, omitted on a bronze within the 2004 Athens Olympics.

As a teacher two of his students faltered at the quarterfinals of the mega event. India was his chance at redemption. “This may be a dream come true on behalf of me . I cried a touch bit when Sindhu won. Just a touch bit. once I was a player I lost within the quarterfinals at the Athens Olympics. then I switched to coaching my two women’s singles players from Korea but they lost in quarterfinals,” says Park.