KOCHI, OCT 09,
After an impressive showing at the recent Asian Games in Jakarta, the Athletics Federation of India is likely to appoint exclusive foreign coaches for some of its big stars soon.
“We will be hiring foreign coaches exclusively for triple jumper Arpinder Singh and shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh,” the AFI secretary C.K. Valson told The Hindu on Tuesday night after the federation’s Planning Committee meeting in Patiala.
Both Arpinder and Tajinder had won gold at the Asiad.
Jumps camp
Valson also said that the National camp for jumps, under Romanian Bedros Bedrosian, will be shifted from Thiruvananthapuram to Palakkad. This, the AFI feels, will help out the new long jump national record-holder M. Sreeshankar.
V. Neena, the Asiad women’s long jump silver medallist, will also be moving to Palakkad with her husband Pinto Mathew.
The AFI also plans a tighter anti-doping and no-needle policy under which athletes’ and coaches’ rooms and bags may be searched now.
“There will be a committee to handle this. Even coaches can now search athletes’ bags,” said Valson.
Meanwhile, speaking at the meeting, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said the athletes should not be satisfied with the good Asian performance but must focus to get “breakthrough medals” in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The federation will also be sending a group of athletes for international meets so that they could gain world ranking points and qualify for the Doha Worlds in September-October next year.
Along with the plans for its stars, the AFI made it clear that it would continue to work on its junior programmes so that there is enough depth to dominate at the Asian level.
