CHENNAI: India’s chief national athletics coach P Radhakrishnan Nair is not a person who would readily agree for an interview. But on a rainy day when he was driven indoors at the JN Stadium in Chennai, he did sit down for a long chat on the sidelines of the Inter-state athletics competition. He spoke about the diminishing returns of the 4x400m men and women teams, how they are in the process of complete overhaul and rebuilding. He has lent his weight behind 400m foreign coach from Jamaican Jason Dawson, who had faced allegations of pushing players too hard. He said there is no tiff between any foreign or Indian coaches and after Dawson wanted to train athletes alone he was not given an assistant coach. The chief coach also said India would be concentrating on their strong events like javelin, long jump, 4x400 men and women relays for the Olympics. Excerpts:
What’s wrong with the 4x400m relay teams (men and women)?
They are already training there in Trivandrum but some of the athletes like Amoj got injured yesterday, then Rajesh Ramesh was also injured. He just rehabilitated and is coming back. Then Vishal was there. I think there are some athletes we expected will do good but they are lagging behind like Rihan Choudhury, Mohit (Kumar).
We were expecting them to give good results during their training in the off-season, but when they started the season, they were not performing well. So, surely it is a new team. There will be hardly anybody from the old group. Ajmal also just joined back after an injury in Saudi Arabia. Definitely they will be good but to win the gold medal at the next Asian Games. That is the expectation.
Similarly, in women’s also Jyotika Dandi, she was one of our best athletes in 400. She also got injured multiple times and now she is fully fit. She may participate at the next Open Nationals. Similarly, Subha Venkatesh, who is one of the most talented 400m athletes but she is having some back pain. But she still clocked 52.67s at the Asian Championships. We have Rupal. She did not participate here. We had a lot of competitions in Spala. Vishal (new national record holder) was also there. He ran four races in Germany for World University and then he ran one in Spala, Poland. Then he ran on 10th August. Then again he ran two races here. So it is eight races in a month from July 20th to August 20th. We have the right move and decentralisation has developed.
We will choose eight athletes during the Open Nationals. But it is mandatory for them to participate in this championship as well but the final selection will be in the Open Nationals next month.
You had high hopes when you started the season. What happened?
We completely changed the athletes. The expectation was that seniors will be replaced by juniors. But some of the juniors came like Jay Kumar, who has good potential. He ran up to August 10 (international meet). But he wanted to take a rest here. He might be back for Open Nationals, which will be stronger than this. This is a little weak because there is no short term goal here. This is only for the people who participate in World Championships. Hardly 15-16 athletes.
Some of the athletes got injured and could not do well in 4x400. And to qualify for world championships, we have to run 2.58-59 and below. For that, you need a very strong team. At Budapest worlds we had a very strong team. That is why we are not trying to qualify here and have not called overseas teams like Sri Lanka, Maldives. It is better not to waste money.
You are concentrating on 4x100m?
Did you see the results of the women 's 100m? Eight girls ran below 12. Around five ran below 11.60. It is a good sign. Further improvement is needed. Dhanalakshmi came back after a ban. Abhinaya Rajarajan is very young. She is under 20. She was second and Sneha was third. She is old but can run 11.5, 11.4. Nithya (Gandhe). We have a strong team for 100m women in the Asian Games. Men are also strong. But results are not coming out now. The athletes performed in Uttar Pradesh and all the foreign competitions — like Gurindervir Singh, Manikanda A. They have done good in the beginning but now they are nowhere. Animesh (Kujur) is maintaining. Amlan also is not running well.
I don't know what happened to that group. But they will be okay if they come to the Open Nationals. If they are not coming, they will not be there in the team. There is no further selection into the team after Open Nationals. From there on, we will be keeping eight athletes.
Is there any friction between the Indian and foreign coaches?
Absolutely no problem. They are working together. Dawson said he doesn't want any assistant coach and he doesn't have one. Some are having assistant coaches. There is no interference by any Indian coaches with any foreign coaches.
Next year is the Asian Games then the Olympics. What sports beyond javelin are in focus for LA 2028?
Beyond javelin, we have relays — 4x400 men and 4x400 mixed relays. Then, long jump men. Murali Sreeshankar will do 8.27m plus here on Saturday. These are the main events, which we are focusing more on next. It’s like this we are focussing on all disciplines in a similar way but the special focus is for Javelin, 400-metre men, 400-metre women, long jump men, even long jump women, but I don't think they are medal prospects as of now. Praveen Chitravel has performed 17.37m (triple jump) in March. But at the Asian Championship, he could not jump 17m. Let us hope he performs at the World Championships. But he is capable. If you do 17.50, 17.60, you can get a medal. You see, recently the Asian record has been created at 17.67 odd metres. We are not focussing on Asian Games or Commonwealth Games or Asian Championship alone. These are used as building blocks for the 2028 Olympics. We have the 2027 World Championship, 2026 Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and 2028 Olympics. So, these are used as building blocks. Core athletes are some 24-plus and by the Olympics, they will be 28 when they will peak. But for 32, 36, we have to look for new athletes. Like we can say Vishal and Rajesh Ramesh may survive. Now they are 25. You know, there are about 22 people running below 47s in India. There are 80 people running below 48s in India.
No country has this much bench strength in this world. Even America doesn't have it. That is another thing that Jason says. Our athletes are not willing to come out of their comfort zone. They cannot reach high fatigue. They should be comfortable after training. So as long as they are having this mentality then it is difficult. They have to come out of their comfort zone. They have to work hard. That is why I fully support Jason. His prime principle is to work hard. Suppose if you want to break 45s, it is not that you should do the training to break 46s. You have to do more training to break 45s. That attitude should come to our athletes. So some of the athletes say it is very hard. For example Vishal has been training since October, December with him. He survived. Why? But he never complained to me that he is having some problem.
Since last December he has been doing training. So, the thing is that you should be mentally fit. They should change their mindset. And they should come out of their comfort zone. They can't go to a place where it is having little difficulties. That's all. And they can't compete 3-4 events continuously. They are afraid of competing. These are all the things they have to change. So, I agree with Jason that some of our athletes are not good. I am not agreeing that there is an interruption. There is no interruption by coaches now. Maybe in the beginning it was. But now it is absolutely zero. But it is a training system. The training principle is very good. Where our athletes can perform below 45. If our athletes are, if we get 4 athletes below 45, then we are on the podium.
Jason said given a chance he would take some of them to Jamaica to train with the locals?
I don't know how far it will be successful. Do you think Jamaica is having very good training facilities? Nowadays there are no good 400m runners there. But we have the bench strength. There are 20 people below 47s and more than 80 running 48s. Even United States don't have such a bench strength. The training facility will not be that as good as we have.
Transition from winning medals at Asian Games to Worlds or Olympics?
In Asiad, everybody is thinking about money. You know the states which offer the money in crores. Generally, everybody will think that the Asian Games is better than the World Championships. I can't win a medal in the World Championships so, why should I try? You understand? That (event in Chennai) is one example. There is no target for this (Chennai) competition. But Open Nationals will have more participation. Everybody will be there. And further... In the next year, all the competitions are important. So, the competition coming soon will be published.
