KOCHI: His team made history by winning the bronze medal last year in the triple jump event of the 2018 Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires. Subash George, a former athlete was the coach of the Under-20 Indian youth team. He also trained the team at the 2019 Asian Youth Championship held in Hong Kong. Presently he is in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the Junior India South zone athletics camp which started on July 25 and will go on till September 28.
“It is a preparation camp before the Asian Junior Championship, World Junior Championship (2020) and Juniors National Championship that will be held in October,’’ said Subash. Subash had started coaching in 1993. His stint began with training the Kerala Police sports team and the Indian Junior National team. The team coached by him which participated in the Asian junior championship the same year (1993) secured two bronze medals in the long jump category.
“It was the first time that India won such an important medal in long jump,’’ said Subash. After the Asian junior championship, Subash had coached the Indian senior team which had participated in SAF games, Chennai. After that, he turned his attention to coaching the Kerala police sports team again.
He trained them in high jump, pole vault, shot put and triple jump. Talking about the current challenges to athletics in the country, Subash said, “Most parents don’t allow their children to spend proper time in coaching centres as they fear it will affect their studies. Colleges and schools don’t allow the athletes to come for camps.”
Subash expects his team to perform well at the World Junior Athletics and Youth Asian Championships. He hopes that Sandra Babu, a promising athlete in the triple jump sport from Kerala will win a medal in the upcoming international athletics events.
“Youth Asian Championship 2020 is coming, we are aiming for a gold. I expect our teams to perform well in 100, 200, 400 metre long jump, triple jump and decathlon events,” said Subash. Subash is a former all India champion (1982-1986) in triple jump. He has also participated in 1982, 1983 and 1986 Asian games. His most notable achievement as an athlete includes winning a bronze medal for track and field event in 1983 Asian games.