Brett Clarke asks coaches not to follow any ideas blindly

India’s foreign table tennis coach, Brett Clarke, underscored the importance of the stroke -- banana flick during a video conference with the SAI coaches.

Brett Clarke interacted with the SAI coaches on Tuesday.

India’s foreign table tennis coach, Brett Clarke, underscored the importance of the stroke -- banana flick.

Using the videos of India’s Harmeet Desai and world’s top player Fan Zhendong to make his point, the Australian said if the coaches are not teaching the flick in their academies or clubs, they are falling behind in the International trends. “It is a must,” he said, in a video conference to Sports Authority of India coaches on Tuesday.

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Clarke asked the coaches not to follow any ideas blindly. “It’s their responsibility to know the truth. They have to do their own research and do what is appropriate for their players,” the Olympian said.

Hinting at the need to have a longer backswing for powerful strokes, Clarke showed the videos of Germany's Timo Boll and China’s (the world's) top three players Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin and Ma Long. “If the top three players have a bigger backswing there must be some truth in it. But I leave it to coaches to decide,” he said.