Squashing challenges

"Squash is the fastest of the ball games, with speeds up to 250 kph. If you want to play squash competitively, stamina is vital, even more so than playing tactics. The more you retrieve, the more chance you have,” says 19-year-old squash champion Cyrus Vakil. Ranked number three in India and number two in Maharashtra in singles in his age category, Vakil says his strengths are his right hand volley and left hand drop, "very crucial, cutty, the ball gets into a nick and dies off, so the opponent can’t reach it.”

Vakil has also started playing doubles with partner Aloke Mathur. "I have a new coach A. I. Singh and I train seriously four times a week,” he says. Gym workouts and four km jogs at the Race Course help build up endurance. "I am playing really hard. I want to break into the top 100 in the PSA (Professional Squash Association) rankings. It is a big leap from the boys’ into the men’s category which is much more competitive. But it can be done,” he declares.

"Whenever he plays, Cyrus attracts large crowds, not just because of his awesome, powerhouse play backed by deft shots, but because of his ‘antics’ on and off the court too. He is indeed very temperamental and often questions a referee’s call,” describes his father Dhunjishaw, himself a good tennis player. "I am paranoid about wrong calls. I don’t like to waste time. I want to win and come out, be done with it fast,” asserts the player often described by the media as mercurial and enigmatic, with a devil-may-care attitude! Shouting at himself and muttering motivates him, pumps him up and unnerves the opponent: "I don’t like to be calm. I like to be different!”

Cyrus Vakil: powerhouse play

When Cyrus was 12, his father introduced him to racquet sports through the game of tennis. "I soon realized that tennis is not my game. The very first time I played squash, I loved it.” Training at the Willingdon Sports Club, Cyrus soon found himself reaching the quarter finals in several tournaments in the under 13 category. "It was then that I decided to have a coach for him and he started training under former national champion and India’s number one player Raj Manchanda. By the age of 15, he was ranked third at the national level and was selected to represent Maharashtra,” Dhunjishaw states.

In December 2007, Cyrus was selected by the Delhi Squash Association (affiliated to the Squash Racquets Federation of India) to represent India in his age group (men under 23) and play against Pakistan in the Hamdard Delton Squash Tournament in New Delhi in January 2008. "I could not go as I was not well,” Cyrus says regretfully.

He terms as one of his best achievements his success at the Milo All Star Junior Squash Championship in Malaysia in 2003 where he made it to the finals in the boys under 15 main event. The boys under 17 Delhi Squash Association Championship 2005, boys under 19 The Club-ISP (Indian Squash Professionals) Squash Championship 2006, The Umerkhan Open Squash Tournament 2006-07, Harish Chandra Golcha Memorial-Rajasthan Open Squash Championship 2007 and the JVPG Club — ISP Squash Classic 2008 are some of the events where Cyrus has recorded major victories.

Pugnacious yet pragmatic, Cyrus speaks of the collateral damage: "Squash is no doubt very unkind to starters. At times even the best shot finds the ball refusing to bounce off the wall. It is initially hard on the body. If you play after a long interval, the joints ache, the muscles feel sore, one can suffer a hamstring pull and the knees protest at being treated so roughly!”

Currently in the second year of his BMS (Bachelor of Management Studies) at the H. R. College, Cyrus won for his College the Inter-College Squash Championship 2007. Playing for Mumbai University he enabled it to reach the finals in the all India Inter-University Squash Racquet Tournament. "I want to do my MBA and continue to play squash competitively. I want to be remembered in the sport that has supported me,” he says forthrightly.