CHENNAI: With winter setting in North India, athletes are moving out of NIS Patiala in batches. It’s a ritual athletes follow more often than not around November-December as mercury starts to dip. This time, though, most of the athletes are shifting to Bengaluru because Thiruvananthapuram's Sports Authority of India centre’s synthetic track laying process is not over as yet.
It is learnt that the horizontal jumpers, who are without a foreign coach after Bedros Bedrosian’s contract was not renewed, will be shifting to the Bengaluru SAI centre. Bedrosian had gone home on leave during the lockdown in July for eight days but did not come back and his contract expired on August 31.
The sprinters and quarter-milers will continue training in Patiala despite the cold. It is understood that because of various logistical reasons, the Bengaluru centre will not be able to accommodate too many athletes. A decision on where they would be shifted will be taken later. There is a possibility for athletes to continue training in Patiala for some time. This was revealed by a top Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official. Also, around six jumpers (four triple and two long jumpers) will be shifting to Bengaluru by early December. The middle and long distance camp too has been shifted to Bengaluru.
The horizontal jumpers will be training under Robert Bobby George as of now. “There was some kind of planning going on,” said Bobby George, who is already training junior jumps team of 14 in the centre, including eight under the Khelo India scheme. It is understood that the arrangement would be temporary. It might continue until a foreign coach joins, which could take two to three months. After Bedros left, high performance director Volker Herrmann was overseeing the jumpers’ training. But since Volker would be leaving on December 9, the camp will be shifting to Bengaluru.