An evening with Mr Rajiv Reddy
On Aug 22, we had Mr Rajiv Reddy, a veteran squash champion, coach, administrator and international referee in the ICFAI WiseViews series.
About Mr Rajiv Reddy
Mr Rajiv Reddy began playing squash at 36. At 72, he is still a reigning champion. He is also recognized as a referee, sports administrator and an entrepreneur. Mr Reddy has been a national champion for decades. He has won multiple Masters categories, (over 45, up to 70, over 70), including the 2023 and 2024 national titles. He is the winner of 14 national titles and still counting.
M Reddy is an accredited referee with the World Squash Federation. He has officiated at top international events. He is a former coach of India's National Juniors girls’ team. He has mentored top women players like Vaidehi Reddy. He is currently Director of Referees in the Squash Rackets Federation.
Mr Reddy plays multiple sports, including hockey and tennis. He is also the director of the Madras Cricket Club.
All in the mind
Playing and winning need the right mindset. We often lose even before we start something. We give excuses for not doing something. Age (it is too late for me now.) or time (I don’t have time.) is not a barrier. It is all in the mind. When we are giving excuses, we are telling ourselves a story of why something cannot be done. Excuses are optional but effort is not.
Fauja Singh
When Fauja Singh was 80 years old, he was highly diabetic. Doctors told him that he had to exercise. But even if he walked for a few meters, he used to feel tired. When he went to stay with his son in England, he saw the London Marathon. He found youngsters and old people in their 80s also running. This was the spark he got.
Fauja started jogging and then running. He ran the London Marathon when he was 90 years old. And he broke the world record in the over 90 category by 58 minutes. From 2000, Singh completed nine full marathons and several shorter ones. At the 2003 Toronto Waterfront Marathon, he achieved his personal best of five hours and forty minutes. Eight years later at the same event, he became the oldest person to finish a marathon. In doing so, he beat more than 100 much younger runners in the 26.2 mile event. Fauja ran his last competitive race when he was 101 years old. Unfortunately, in July this year, when he was crossing the road in his village in Jalandhar, a rash driver hit him, and he passed away at the age of 114.
Arunima Sinha
In 2011, Arunima Sinha, a national level volleyball player, was going to Delhi by train to attend an interview (with the CISF), to qualify for the paramilitary forces. Robbers entered her train compartment and attempted to pull her gold chain. When she resisted, they pushed her out of the train. Arunima fell on the tracks. A train from the opposite side came and crushed her legs. She had to be amputated.
But Arunima did not give up. She announced she would climb the Mount Everest. People were saying: Are you joking? Are you mad? You're disabled.
After she recovered, she put a false leg. She went to mountaineering classes and trained herself against all odds. On May 21st, 2013, she climbed the Mount Everest.
What can we learn from Fauja Singh and Arunima Sinha? Where there is a will there is way. It is about how we condition ourselves.
On his journey
At 36, Mr Reddy became a temporary member of the Madras Cricket Club. But he was denied permanent membership. For that, he had to represent the club.
While visiting the club, he saw a squash court. Even though he had never played squash earlier, Mr Reddy decided to jump in and purchased a wooden racket. Since he was new to the game, the marker told him to come in the morning. Experienced players would play in the evenings. His lifestyle changed. He would play from 6 30 am to 8 am and then go to office. (He was working in Anand Bazaar Patrika.)
His game started improving. After 10 months, to practise with the experienced players, he began to go to the courts in the evening. Squash is a dead game. 36 is usually the end of a squash career. But Mr Reddy made it to the team at that age. He played and won his first Nationals at the age of 45. And the journey has continued since then.
After becoming a champion, Mr Reddy thought he had to give back. He started training youngsters like Joshna Chinnappa, Dipika Pallikal, etc. All these girls have bought laurels to this country including gold medals in the Asian and Commonwealth Games. He was later appointed the National Women's Coach.
Becoming a world referee
Mr Reddy was very keen to become a world referee and officiate in matches involving the top players in the world. He would also get a chance to watch them in action. But to become a world referee was not easy. It was a white man's club into which entry was not easy. Referees are watched and assessed, and their decisions are closely reviewed. Mr Reddy showed his perseverance and hung in there. Finally, they realized he deserved to be a world referee.
Mr Reddy has officiated in 5 Asian Games, starting from the 2006 Doha Asian Games to the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in China. He has also officiated in 2 Commonwealth Games and the World Championships.
Satisfying journey
For 20 years, Mr Reddy had a very satisfying journey combining play and work. Finally, at the age of 55, as his travel increased, he realized he could not do justice to both. He decided to pursue his passion and quit his job at ABB. He wanted to live life on his terms.
After proving himself as a player, coach, administrator and referee, he was appointed the director of referees, Squash Federation of India. His mandate was to improve the quality of referees in India. So, he had to conduct clinics and create a pool of referees. And today, many of the referees in the country have been trained by Mr Reddy.
Finding the time
Mr Reddy has never given any excuses such as age or shortage of time. He feels that people who say they do not have time have a lot of time. All of us have to find the time by prioritising what we want to do. Mr Reddy’s friend and top businessman Mr Ravi Mammen of MRF would postpone his meetings till 7.30 in the evening. Despite his hectic schedule, he would come to play squash at 6 pm every day. Mr Reddy knows many people who are busy but have created time for themselves.
How individual sports can benefit us
Health is important. For maintaining good health, we must play an individual sport. We must also encourage our children to take part in some individual sport.
Any individual sport enables character building. We enjoy victory but also know how to handle a loss. We face crunch situations and learn to handle pressure and stress. We learn to respect our opponent, and shake hands, even if we have lost the match. We make it a point to thank the referee for officiating. These are all part and parcel of character building.
Individual sports like squash also teach us adaptability. Suppose our opponent is very good and attacking well. Our shots are not coming off properly. We are making unforced errors. We must do course correction. We should not hit the ball to the areas where the opponent is very strong. We must just hang in there.
In life too we face such situations: handling pressure, being adaptable, resilience, etc. Sports will help us to deal with them more effectively.
Mr Reddy is very happy that in the 2028 LA Olympics, squash is being introduced. Mr Reddy has enjoyed his journey, and he plans to be active for as long as he can.
Q&A
The building blocks of a champion are sincerity, self-motivation, realistic goals based on situational understanding, hard work, determination and discipline and finally time management.
Mr Reddy is a keen observer of how people handle life situations. They provide him the spark and energize him. He keeps learning from them.
Mr Reddy recalled an incident in his life that significantly boosted his motivation levels. He had gone as a world referee to the World Masters Championship in Hong Kong. Normally, world referees are assigned to the matches in the over 35, over 40 and over 45 categories. The players are former world champions and national champions, and the matches are very close.
Mr Reddy went to the tournament referee and offered to officiate in the over 80 category. In the match, one player was from Canada and the other from South Africa. Each point involved a long rally. The players were getting tired. But their wives who had accompanied them, kept encouraging them, wiping their sweat, giving them water and making suggestions on how they could improve the game. For example, one wife said to her husband: Don’t hit the hall in the front. He is anticipating. The other told her husband: Keep the ball in play. Just don't finish. You're making errors.
Mr Reddy thought to himself, that at 80 plus, they were playing with such commitment. He was 20 years younger. He told himself: “I have got 20 years of squash life still left. There is a lot I can do.”
Age is a number. And nothing is impossible. There's nothing called retirement. We can carry on till the last day of our life.
Squash is the only game in the world where a lot depends on the referee. In the case of tennis or badminton, referees do not take subjective decisions by and large. Usually only line calls or scoring are involved. But in squash there are many subjective decisions referees must make. Is the player about to move out or come in the way of the opponent’s stroke making? If the referee feels the player is coming in the way of stroke making, he is penalized. So many subtle decisions are involved.
Note: In squash, a stroke is a point awarded to a player when the opponent obstructs him from hitting the ball. Here are some common scenarios:
Swing Interference: An opponent's racket or body is too close, preventing the player from completing the backswing or follow-through.
Front Wall Interference: The ball, after being struck, travels directly back to the opponent and prevents him from hitting the front wall.
Obstructed Path: A player fails to move out of the way after their shot, blocking the opponent's direct path to the ball.
Ball Hits the Player: The ball, traveling directly to the front wall, strikes the opponent.
Stroke is awarded for interference that is significant, deliberate, or potentially dangerous. Let is awarded for accidental or minor interference. The player is still able to play. But the situation is uncertain or could become dangerous. In this case, the point is replayed.
In squash it is obligatory on the part of the referee to give a short explanation if questioned by the payers. Sometimes players are unhappy and may express dissent. If they cross a limit, referees give a conduct warning. If they continue to argue, they are given a context stroke. That means the player loses a point. And this happens only in squash.
Referees are watched and assessed by experts from all over the world. There are reviews and replays. Decisions are questioned.
Referees must manage the game well. Sometimes things can get rough. If wrong behaviour is not checked in the beginning it can become messy later.
In sports, we have a strategy and prepare plans to play an opponent. We see videos of opponents and strategize by figuring out their strengths and vulnerabilities. But the situation keeps changing and we must adapt.
In business too, we may have a strategy. But when the competition comes up with something new, we may need to do course correction. We must be very resilient, think proactively and anticipate what the competition will try to do.
Squash is an indoor, all-weather sport. The court size is approximately 32 feet by 22 feet. And a 1-inch ball is used. The ball becomes warm, once it is hit and then it flies.
We must be in top shape, endurance-wise, fitness-wise, agility-wise. We need stamina. We must be fit to play squash and not play squash to become fit.
According to Forbes, the toughest and the fittest game among all sports is squash. Typically, players burn up slightly over 1,000 calories during a match. The blood pressure touches 190 to 200. This is the mother of all sports when it comes to endurance. After that comes ice hockey.
By the time people are 40, 45, because of the bending and running, the knees and the back start giving us trouble. So, we must keep strengthening our knees and our back to avoid injury. The game involves quick turns. So, we must be agile. We need quick reflexes.
Unfortunately, squash is perceived as an upmarket game. It was given to us by the British. We will find it only in the elite clubs. A common man has no access to these clubs.
If we are playing squash as a social game, it is different. But if we are playing competitive squash, we must train, have the stamina, and go to the gym once in a way to avoid injury. The game is so demanding.
Table tennis requires more reflexes. There is no anticipation. That's why it is different from squash.
Mr Reddy has a good team and leaves them free to run the operations. Only when it is required, he gets involved. When he has to take a decision, Mr Reddy believes in moving fast. He does not believe in procrastination. This is just like squash, where one must decide what shot to play in a fraction of a second.
In June this year, D. Gukesh of India defeated Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Carlsen did not take his defeat in the right spirit and banged the table. This kind of behaviour cannot be condoned. Even afterwards, Carlsen did not graciously accept the defeat.
As a coach, Mr Reddy explains to kids and their parents that if we lose a match, it is not the end of the world. It is not the last match. Sometimes players don’t shake hands with the referee because they think he took some wrong decisions. It is important to inculcate the right values in the young players so that they take defeat in their stride.
This is a point which is being discussed by the referees. AI may not be conducive in squash because the decisions are so contextual. Depending on the speed, the height of the ball, the distance of the ball, where it's going to be, where the opponent is, how close he is to the ball, it could be a let, or a stroke. So, the human factor is far more than the AI.
However, there is a referral system in squash. During review of decisions, technology can help.