CHENNAI: He was unwilling to leave for his country even as other foreign coaches of Indian wrestlers decided to return amid the novel coronavirus scare. Shako Bentinidis, however, flew for Georgia on Sunday after his ward Bajrang Punia insisted that he leave, taking into account the situation across the globe. The coach, who reached Georgia’s capital Tbilisi in the evening, will now undergo mandatory quarantine period in his country.
“Bajrang asked me to leave. Anyway, practising at the SAI Centre in Sonepat was not going on in full swing due to the suspension of the national camp. Given the situation and Bajrang’s advice, I decided to make arrangements for my travel back home on Saturday,” Shako told this daily. The freestyle coach reached Dubai on Sunday afternoon before boarding a flight to Tbilisi. With the frequency of international flights reduced considerably due to bans imposed by various countries including India, the 44-year-old struggled initially but managed to find connecting flights.
“Earlier, when I checked only business class seats were available. It was difficult but fortunately, I managed to find a way out of it,” he added. In fact, he sought help from Georgia’s minister to ensure he returned home. “Georgia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs is my childhood friend. We practised wrestling together in the past. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its official sponsor also helped me a lot. My wife was worried about me now she is happy.”
The coach was upset when the WFI decided to cancel Russia trip of six freestyle wrestlers in the Olympic weight categories in the first week of this month. The cancellation meant he was left with no option than to train Bajrang and Jitender Kumar (74kg) at the national camp in Sonepat. The federation then decided to suspend both the men’s and women’s camps last week in the wake of the pandemic. Shako, however, continued training Bajrang and Jitender in Sonepat before the 65kg wrestler advised him to leave.
“I will now undergo 10-15 days mandatory quarantine period in Kvareli Lake Resort in Lopota, which is around 150km from the national capital. In fact, all the passengers from the Dubai flight will have to undergo the quarantine process,” said Shako. Earlier this week, Andrew Cook, who hails from Washington, decided to leave for his country as women wrestlers preferred training at their home centres instead of the SAI Centre in Lucknow. Foreign coach Temo Kasarashvili, who too hails from Georgia, also left when the Greco-Roman wrestlers were asked to leave their training stint in Baku, Azerbaijan midway last week.