India squash player Mahesh Mangaonkar working with Finland team amid lockdown

With activities suspended on professional squash tour suspended until at least August 15, India player Mahesh Mangaonkar has shifted base to Helsinki, where he is working with Finland national team. 

World number 49 Mangaonkar was in Nerlands when he got offer from Finland Squash Federation to be a sparring partner to its national team.    

26-year-old resumed training in Helsinki recently after coronavrius related restrictions were eased in Finland. During lockdown, Mumbai-born worked hard on his fitness and discovered love for science behind squash. 

"During lockdown I stayed busy by finding what I can do as a job after my squash career and I discovered my love for fitness and science behind training for sport," he told PTI.

"I've been studying since February for an exam called Mixed Modal movement program which covers all aspects of training for specific sporting events like tennis, swimming, squash, bminton, hockey.

"Currently I am a certified fitness trainer and I am still updating my CV to work as a sport performance coach," said Mangaonkar.

Though he is alrey a certified squash coach, Mangaonkar feels an ditional fitness certification will help him.

"I am alrey well qualified as a squash coach and trained many juniors in India and a few in Finland but having a fitness certification will really make me a unique sports performance coach," he said.