PKL 2019 | After three defeats, it’s even harder to motivate players, says Anup Kumar
Puneri Paltan coach Anup Kumar has stated that it is a difficult task to keep motivating players after the team has lost three of their encounters in the ongoing season of the PKL. The former India skipper has also mentioned about the transition from being a player in the last season to a coach.
Anup Kumar was the star player of the league from the first season of Pro Kabbadi. Now the former skipper of U Mumba and the Indian kabaddi team has come a long way as he is now coaching Puneri Paltan in the seventh edition of the league. Puneri Paltan have lost all three of its encounters till now and that too by big margins. Their players aren’t able to execute strategies on the mat and they are lacking a strike raider as well in the absence of Nitin Tomar who is out of the tournament till the end of the Patna leg.Â
“There’s no combination in the team at this moment, but the quality is there. After three defeats it’s even harder to motivate players, but then that’s the job that I’ve undertaken,” Anup told Scroll.in.
“I haven’t become a coach by filling a form. I’ve played kabaddi all my life and after a long career, I have entered coaching. So, it is not right to say that coaches who were players before don’t do well."
Pune’s players have time and again failed to perform together as a team. After losing the services of Tomar due to an injury, they were forced to rely on their young raiders who were not able to perform at crucial moments. Their defenders Girish Ernak and Surjeet Singh haven’t been able to make a big impact on the team in the tournament as well.
“Player’s duty is to perform on the pitch. He delivers sometimes, sometimes he does not. But his role ends there. After the game he can relax, think about his individual performance and where he made mistakes.
"But a coach has to look after each player. You have to decide how to use your players against your next opponent, how to motivate him for the next game. It becomes taxing,” the Pune coach explained.
The transition from being a player to a coach isn’t an easy one. Anup went from playing in last season to becoming a coach in this one so it must have been difficult for him. There are a lot of expectations from coach Anup Kumar as he was a phenomenal player and even an Asain Games gold medalist so everyone expects him to overcome the challenges of being a coach and make his team win.
 “I was playing till last season. So obviously when you are on the bench, you feel certain things should have been done in a certain way. You feel you could’ve done certain things better. I also felt like going in to raid sometimes. But my job is to get the work done and not do it myself anymore,” Anup concluded.
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