Kuntal Roy: The modern day 'Drona' of Indian athletics

Kuntal Roy, at the SAI grounds.

The afternoon sun beats down mercilessly on the vast expanse at the Sports Authority of India (SAI)grounds in Kolkata, as Kuntal Roy gives instructions to a bunch of eager athletes congregated there for their daily dose of practice. The 60 year old Roy is at his usual ease as he settles down on his chair and fondly looks over the young athletes sweating it out in the blazing weather.

Chief coach at the SAI, Kuntal Roy is known to have trained some of the top athletes of India and unfortunately would be retiring this year. He is also only the second person from West Bengal and the only Bengali yet to win the prestigious Dronacharya award.

Born and brought up at the Sodepur area of North 24-Parganas, Roy has made the country proud by producing top notch international standard athletes for a long time in his decades long coaching career. Roy was a footballer during his childhood but unfortunately had to leave the sport after a serious injury to his right leg in his school days. A determined Kuntal didn’t want to leave his association with sports and gradually went on to establish the Sodepur A.C.C. (Athlete Coaching Centre) at Sodepur, North Kolkata, in 1969.

This was how his coaching career started. After getting a diploma in from National Institute of Sports (NIS) in 1972 Kuntal Roy joined SAI Coaching Academy in the year 1975 and went on to became the Chief Coach there.

Interestingly for all his sporting achievements, Roy wasn’t interested in sports in his formative years. “As a child, I was quite an introvert and never enjoyed going out and play outdoor games. I loved reading, and interestingly, that’s how I got interested in sports. My brother was quite involved in sports and used to bring home a magazine called Sports and Pastimes and I remember waiting for it eagerly. I used to be fascinated by the pictures of sportstars and different sporting events,” reminisces Kuntal Roy while sipping tea at the corner of the athletic segment of the SAI grounds.

Over the years, his passion for sports kept growing and slowly it became an addiction. “I liked to lead and was attracted to the leadership qualities that sports required. From a young age, I liked to guide boys and girls to do their best on the field,” adds Roy.

It was this leadership quality that Roy had in him which ultimately helped him establish the A.C.C. After his leg injury, Roy was barred from playing football altogether but he wasn’t one to give up so easily. After a few years he started slow running in a field near his home regularly. That was when 14 young boys used to come and watch him train and eventually became his fans. It was the very same boys who became his partners later in establishing the A.C.C.

Winning the Dronacharya award last year was perhaps the perfect icing on this grand sportsman’s career. “It was obviously a great honour, winning the award. There perhaps cannot be a bigger social recognition. However, I would also like to say that I don’t work for awards. They don’t make any difference to my motivation to work as a coach,” adds Roy thoughtfully.

More than the awards that he has won, what makes Kuntal Roy even more recognized all over is his motivational ability to inspire sports persons to bring out their best. He has trained hundreds of international standard athletes and Olympians. Some of them whom he considers his best are Sanjay Rai, Soma Biswas and Sushmita Singha Roy-all Olympians- to name a few.

28 year old Sushmita Roy who represented India in the 2008 Beijing Olympics is all praise for her ‘guru’. “He is the best coach that any sportsperson can ever have and more than that he is a very humble and genuine person. His dedication and determination towards his work is something that is to be learnt. Whatever I am today, a big credit of that goes to him. He is without doubt like my father.” says Sushmita while practicing at the SAI grounds.

Another one of Kuntal’s students is Sanjay Rai, a 34 year old field athlete from Uttar Pradesh. Sanjay specializes in the long jump event and has also represented India in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“I have spent almost all my life with him. He spotted me in Benaras when I was 14, saw my talent and brought me here in Bengal to let me train in better facilities. I have never seen a more disciplined person. In all my training years I never saw him coming late even once. The best thing about him I guess is that he is determined to take the best out of everyone. That is the reason he had so many successful athletes coming out from under his training.” says Sanjay proudly.

When one sees the number of people Kuntal Roy has motivated, the question arises as to who could be the people who might have inspired this inspirational coach. “My mother has been my biggest source of motivation all my life. Even though my other family members weren’t exactly happy with my decision to join sports coaching, my mother always believed in my abilities and supported me through and through.”

Another person to whom Kuntal gives a lot of credit to is his coach from his training days Sudhir Pal. Roy considers him as his ‘guru’ and says it was Pal who constantly motivated him to be passionate and disciplined about his work throughout his career.

Despite the illustrious career that he has had, Kuntal isn’t exactly pleased with the sporting system of the country which has failed to produce many sporting heroes. “Here a sports teacher hardly gets any respect. Our culture doesn’t give primary importance to sports and that is the reason we always lack in this department as compared to other countries.”

So what is the root cause of the problem and isn’t there any solution to it? The main problem he feels is a major lack of sporting education at the grass root level. “Unless we start taking sports education seriously the situation will not improve. Here the coaches too aren’t methodical in their approach as compared to international ones. Our Sports Ministers too are never bothered about improving the system. Cricket is lucky to have got such a good infrastructure, which is exactly what we lack,” says a miffed Kuntal.

Another interesting fact that Kuntal shares, sheds some more light on the dismal sporting situation of the country. India, he says has just got six racing tracks in its universities which is nothing compared to places like California which has an impressive 144 tracks. The figures itself tell the story.

The grim situation notwithstanding, there is no doubt that Kuntal Roy is one the prime sporting heroes of our country who hasn’t exactly got his due. His achievements aren’t just limited to the awards or the fact that over thousands of athletes and coaches too have become successful after being under his tutelage. It is the respect that he gets from all his students which can be instantly felt if anyone visits the SAI grounds. Unfortunately, Kuntal will be retiring in a few months time.

So what are his future plans? “I have got many offers from foreign institutes for coaching offering me lucrative packages. But money isn’t everything, what also matters is satisfaction. I like being here with the kids. And that is how I would it to be always,” signs off Kuntal before going off to the eager students waiting for him.

As Kuntal Roy approaches them, all of them touch his feet in respect. That is the aura that he still exudes despite these many years. He might be retiring soon, but one can be rest assured that the legend of Kuntal Roy would live one forever.