KUALA LUMPUR: After some checking, national squash queen S. Sivasangari reckoned that the Czech Republic is as good a place as any for her to train in.
The world No. 10 from Kedah is keen to base herself in the city of Prague in Eastern Europe.
Why Prague? Well, that's where France's former world champion Gregory Gaultier has set up a new training centre.
Among the top players who train at the Prague Squash Centre are world No. 1 and seven-time world champion Nour El Sherbini of Egypt and the formidable Gilis sisters from Belgium - world No. 5 Nele and world No. 8 Tinne.
Sivasangari's training bases have been in Cornell, United States under coach David Palmer and Kuala Lumpur under national chief coach Ajaz Azmat of Pakistan.
The 25-year-old Sivasangari, who helped Malaysia win the Asian women's team title in Dalian, China, last month, is currently training in Cornell.
Sivasangari's career hit a high in April when she won the London Classic after stunning big guns Sherbini, world No. 2 Hania El Hammamy of Egypt and Nele.
But since then the Malaysian has been struggling against Egypt's top players in PSA tournaments.
Ajaz said for Sivasangari to further improve her game, she has to be willing to be based in any part of the world for quality training.
"Sivasangari will be going to Prague for three weeks (July 8-30) to train under Gaultier.
"We (SRAM) support her (to make Prague as a training base) as long as she keeps improving her world ranking.
"During the three weeks in Prague, she will spar with Sherbini and the Gilis sisters, which will definitely help Sivasangari to close the gap between her and the world's top eight players," said Ajaz.
Sivasangari is also set to compete in the Paris tournament (Sept 15-21), United States Open (Oct 19-26), Malaysia Cup (Nov 13-7), Singapore Open (Sept 19-24) and World Team Championships in Hong Kong (Dec 9-15).