00:00Today we have a very special guest with us on the eve of 28th Asian Double Tennis Championship.
00:08Coach Max is here in Bhuvaneswar, calling the stadium.
00:12He is also planning for India to win this championship trophy.
00:18So, Max, welcome to ETV.
00:22So, how do you find Odisha and this 28th?
00:25In fact, this one is the first time in Odisha also in Bhuvaneswar.
00:30This is a fair capital.
00:32How do you find Bhuvaneswar and all these things?
00:34Well, first of all, I really thank you, the organizers.
00:39Bhuvaneswar is treating us very well since the day we reached on 7th.
00:45And, yeah, playing in India is adding more responsibilities.
00:50So, not only to defend the bronze medal of last year, but also to prove something more than last year.
00:58It won't be easy because the team, both teams are heavily renovated.
01:05So, they both are young and our opponents are very, very strong.
01:13So, we are in the world ranking or in the Asian ranking still number 6.
01:19So, making a little bit better will be a very tough matter.
01:28But, we are ready, we are ready to compete.
01:32Just to ask you, India, in every aspect, India is leading player, right?
01:39So, number 6, are you happy with that performance?
01:42Well, performance is what comes from the work.
01:48So, we are doing our honest work.
01:51And, in this moment, we are number 6.
01:54I'm happy, because before we were much behind.
02:00So, if you consider that in the world we are number 10 and before we were barely number 16 and all the players are improving their individual award ranking, I'm happy.
02:12So, just in the press conference, you were quoting that with a junior team, a young group is there.
02:20Yeah, the average team is 22 years old.
02:25Comparing last year, that was 30 years old, especially the men.
02:29Yes, in this game you need experience, you need to have steady nerves, pressure will be very high and sometimes young are with no pressure and then they can perform very well.
02:47Sometimes they feel too much pressure and then they are blocked and not performing well.
02:52So, it's a mix of, let's say, technical, tactical and mainly more mental stability in order to be relaxed and perform.
03:06One thing is for sure, whenever we are under pressure, we feel that, oh, the responsibility is very, very high.
03:16And then players, they feel we have a big expectation.
03:20I hope we don't have a big expectation.
03:23I like to be some sort of underdog like we have done last year and then we have impressed the Asia by making the two bronze medals.
03:34So, let's see, step by step and we'll see maybe in the next days for an update.
03:40You were seeing what Max was saying.
03:43So, we need to gear up in this Asian Devil Tennis Championship and the team is very young and they will perform definitely well and go ahead.
03:54With camera person, Gagan, Sanjeev Kumar Rai, ETV.
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