Vinayak Padmadeo
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 1
It seems that former national jumps coach Bedros Bedrosian is on his way back to India. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is keen on his return and take charge of the Indian contingent.
In fact, AFI is so confident of his return that he has been named as the long jump and triple jump coach for the national camp in Thiruvananthapuram, which officially started today.
Bibu Mathew, the triple jump coach, Ritu Susan, the physiotherapist, and Ansar Vahid, the masseur, have also been named as part of the coaching staff.
A top AFI official told The Tribune that a final decision was yet to be taken. “We have been talking to him on a possible return but I don’t know whether he has given his consent,” he said.
Another official said that the federation had been trying to talk to him for days but it seems he wasn’t interested.
The decision to bring Bedrosian back is strange as he had resigned only six months back, in October, after many of the campers chose not to train under him. After the Asian Games, Arpinder Singh, triple jump gold medallist in Jakarta, M Sreeshankar, national record holder in long jump, and a few others moved out. Arpinder went to Patiala, while Sreeshankar moved back to Pallakad, Kerala, to train under his father.
AFI tried to mend fences and even decided to shift the national camp to Pallakad but that did not work out, and subsequently Bedrosian put in his papers.
AFI was forced to look at Bedrosian again after failing to zero in on his replacement. Bedrosian, who was on a monthly retainer of over $6000, will be offered a new contract. It will be interesting what role the Romanian coach will play as none of the young stars want to train under him.
Sources close to Praveen Chitravel, who won the triple jump gold medal at the Federation Cup in Patiala last month, have said that the athlete wants to train with Anthony Yaich, his personal coach, at the Inspire Institute of Sports. Sreeshankar too doesn’t want to shift base from Pallakad.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2FMo6ZY
via Today’s News Headlines
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