Even as the Ministry of Sports and the SAI regularly maintains that foreign coaches would be roped in if necessary and that money and red-tapism wouldn’t be a hurdle, they hardly walk their loud talks. Despite a crucial year ahead for India’s athletes—the Commonwealth and Asian Games lined up—the Ministry sources have informed TNIE that the appointment of many coaches has been put on hold.
Take for example the case of Belarusian middle-distance coach Nikolai Snesarev, whose first stint ended in December 2010. According to the SAI officials, Snesarev’s name has been cleared for re-appointment but the Ministry’s clearance is awaited.
It is learnt that the Belarusian’s name has been in the cold storage for over two months. “We have forwarded Nikolai’s name for the post and are waiting for a go-ahead from the ministry,” said SAI DG, Jiji Thomson.
If the appointment of Nikolai is pending, the vacancy left by long jump coach Shvilli Evegene of Uzbekistan is yet to be filled in, as the Athletic Federation of India (AFI) hasn’t found a suitable foreign successor. “The search for a foreign jumps coach is on but it will take time. Hence, for the time being we are taking the service of SAI coach NV Nishadkumar,” said CK Valson, secretary of the AFI.
The glitch here is that two leading jumpers — triple jumper Renjith Maheswary and long jumper Ankit Sharma — are in a camp in Thiruvananthapuram. But the third one, Arpinder Singh, has not joined the camp as he is under SS Pannu in Patiala.
Presently, only three foreign trainers are with athletics — Alexander Artsybashev of Russia (walk), Nikitin Levgen of Ukraine (high jump) and Anatoliy Varda of Ukraine (men’s 400, 4x400). According to SAI officials, the AFI had sought an extension of high jump coach Evgeny Nikiti’s contract, as finding a replacement would consume time.
This apathy is even more baffling in that a lot of hopes are pinned on athletics as a number of India’s pet events such as archery, Greco-Roman wrestling and pair shooting events are not part of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Now that the IOA’s fallout with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is almost solved, the athletes would hope for fast-track measures.