Got medical seat under sports quota

“When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the person who planted them,” so goes a saying.

J. John Selvakumar Pandian of Tiruchi, who got a medical seat in sports quota (he represented Indian junior basketball team in 1981), is giving back by coaching tennis for beginners.

A retired professor of K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital, Dr. John is a city-based anaesthetist and his pressing assignments hardly allow him time for extracurricular activities. But, he makes it a point to spend three hours a day with aspiring tennis players at Officers' Club.

Although the young boys and girls sometimes test his patience, he persists in his efforts to teach them the different techniques of the game.

“My services may be wanted by many hospitals. But I feel pride and honour in coaching tennis as I want to give back to the sport that made me a medical practitioner,” says Dr. John, who captained the basketball teams of Madras University and Bharathidasan University for five years and represented the State for seven years.

“It is disheartening to note that many parents hardly pay any attention towards their kids learning sports. As a sports man, I strongly believe that sports can not only shape up young minds and bodies but also imbibe good behaviour and attitude. I want to produce as many good sportsmen as possible as it is an act of producing good citizens too,” he says.

Parents of young tennis players feel that his services can offset the absence of a good tennis coach in Tiruchi.

“It is uncommon to see a medical practitioner coaching any sport. His commitment and dedication will make a positive bearing on young minds and sports loving people,” said an office bearer of the club.