Dronacharya awardee Raman has his eyes fixed on an Olympic medal

The Chennai-based Raman received the Dronacharya award – which is handed to coaches for their outstanding work – from President Ram Nath Govind at a gala ceremony that was organised at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday. Raman is the first from the table tennis fraternity to be bestowed with both the Arjuna and Dronacharya awards.

“I didn’t come into coaching aspiring for awards. But, I am honoured to win these awards and I respect them. That being said, I keep moving on. My ultimate goal is to produce a player who will win the elusive Olympic medal for India (in TT),” Raman, one of the five recipients of the Dronacharya (regular) award this year, told DT Next from New Delhi. “All these awards come as a good motivation. It shows that more players should come back to their respective sport and dive into coaching, just like what (Prakash) Padukone and Pullela (Gopichand) did in badminton,” said Raman, who has more than a decade’s experience in coaching. “The award definitely serves as a good pitch spot for me. It will refuel and revitalise me,” he went on to add.

Raman said that he has evolved as a coach over the years. “It has been a wonderful journey and I love coaching. There has been a lot of learning along the way. I am happy to share the expertise with the next generation and help them achieve what I couldn’t. I am passionate about India and that is what drives me,” added Raman, who became richer by Rs 10 lakh on Saturday. The well-respected coach has been running the Raman TT High Performance Centre in Chennai, where his star pupil Sathiyan Gnanasekaran trains.