Loaded with arduousness

The Indian sporting system relies heavily on foreign coaches. As much as Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants it to be ‘AatmaNirbhar’, the role played by coaches and high-performance directors from overseas has resulted in improving the performance of Indian sportspersons.

There is no doubt that Indian coaches work in almost every sport at club, school, college and university levels. If you take Olympic sporting disciplines like athletics, hockey, boxing, wrestling, shooting and badminton, there are coaches who are guiding youngsters. Indian athletes are now in an advanced preparation stage in the Olympics cycle for the Paris Games.

India has seen how the Khelo India scheme has helped many juniors improve their performances. At the same time, the role played by junior national championships, national championships, cannot be overlooked. Each platform provides an opportunity to grow, though, when it comes to the final stage, i.e. the international stage, foreign coaches come into play.

If you delve into the history of Indian sports in the last 15 years, foreign coaches have played an important role in several disciplines. From Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal (Beijing, 2008) to Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal (Tokyo, 2021), foreign coaches have been helping holistically. This has gone to show the importance of foreign coaches in the Indian sporting system, where legendary boxing coach BI Fernandez was given the Dronacharya Award for producing a galaxy of champions.

Besides the large spending by the Central Government in the Indian sporting ecosystem, NGOs also chip in. From the time Abhinav Bindra won the historic Olympic gold in 2008, when he was supported by the Mittal Champions Trust, headed by LN Mittal, till now, many NGOs have come to the fore. Their roles are inclusive, yet, at the same time, it is the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as well as the Sports Authority of India which monitors the progress of athletes. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur holds meetings regularly and we get to hear about how foreign exposure tours are cleared and how more and more foreign coaches are brought on board.

In the last six months, there has been churning in the Indian sports administration. Many federations have seen elections and even the Indian Olympic Association is now headed by a legend – PT Usha. This leads fans of the sport to believe that India will do well in the Asian Games to be held this September/October in Hangzhou, China, and eventually the Paris Olympics next year.

Hopefully, the newly-elected body in the IOA will guide elite athletes and federations on how to peak, first in the Asian Games and then the Paris Olympics. After all, there are now so many decorated athletes who are part of the NOC. To be sure, the policy of hire and fire used for coaches is not the best one.

The way hockey coach Graham Reid was sacked was unprofessional, to say the least. Agreed, the Indian men’s team did not do well in the FIH World Cup in Odisha recently. Sacking the coach was a knee-jerk reaction, for Reid had guided the team to a miracle bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and ensured India won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games as well in Birmingham last July. Feedback from the hockey corridors suggests ‘groupism’ among players has emerged once again and fitness levels have dropped. To sack the coach for it, was rash!

Hockey India has a notorious hire-and-fire policy with foreign coaches. Before that, the Indian Hockey Federation, headed by KPS Gill would sack Indian coaches. Hockey India firing coaches dates back over a decade and the list of coaches who went back, disgraced – Ric Charlesworth to Jose Brassa, Terry Walsh to Roelant Oltmans – the list is long.

Whoever thought bringing in Craig Fulton from South Africa as coach will work like a magic wand needs to be told changes do not happen so easily. The Indian team has never done well in the FIH World Cups after 1975. Sacking Reid was wrong. He is history, but he is also a part of Indian hockey history. A gentleman to the core, he left India very politely. The way he handled players in the bio bubble at the SAI Centre in Kengeri, Bengaluru, during the Covid pandemic was wonderful. He was away from his family and lived with the boys.

Can Fulton deliver? He has a great bio and helped the Belgian team do well in a recent Olympics. Frankly speaking, good bios do not mean they will produce medals. Coaching in India is not easy. There is a language barrier, a cultural barrier. Each new coach comes with a fresh plan, a different blueprint. To mesh and weld this before the Asian Games will not be easy. After all, a new coach is like a new CEO, he takes time to settle down. India has to win the gold medal in Hangzhou or they will have to go through the rigmarole of Olympic qualifiers. Images from the last Asiad in Jakarta in 2018 are fresh, where the men’s team flunked under Harendra Singh.

Fulton will be aware of the pressure of expectation as well as how Hockey India has a reputation for being a notorious judge and hangman. Sorry, Prez Dilip Tirkey, this image needs to change. If not, India will run out of coaches faster than players run out of gas. Last week, Tirkey waxed eloquently on the development of hockey at the grassroots level. It is a good initiative but will not produce results overnight. Conceptually, it may be good, but how it is implemented and funded remains to be seen.

In fact, developing sport across disciplines at the junior level is vital. NRAI had done it before the Tokyo Olympics cycle. That the Indian shooters flopped in Tokyo was bizarre. Before that, in Rio 2016, shooters had also drawn a blank. From Tokyo 2021 to Hangzhou and then the Paris Olympics, the shooters will be tested, literally. Quota places are

being clinched. That means nothing. As per the new selection policy, the shooters will still have to undergo four trials before the Paris Olympics. The final names will be picked after that.

It will be exhausting, physically, mentally and emotionally. Yet, it has to be tried out as shooters cannot rely on winning quota places and then dropping form. It is good that the NRAI has hired coaches like Munkhbayar Dorjsuren (pistol), Thomas Farnik (rifle), and

Russel Mark (trap). In addition, NRAI has the services of a high-performance director, Pierre Beauchamps. All this costs a lot but will be worth it if these coaches can generate medals.

Tokyo was a disaster and the coming months are crucial. Results in the recent ISSF World Cup for rifle and pistol in Cairo have been promising. Crack rifle shooter Rudrankksh Patil seems to be in hot form at present. The next World Cup is in Bhopal this month. All these coaches plus mental trainers on board, Indians and experts from overseas, have to groom the marksmen. What happened in the Croatia camp

before the Tokyo Olympics was a mess. It was one huge party, not serious boot training. Hopefully, this sport will see a revival, first at the Asian Games and then at the Olympics.

For those who track athletics, long jumper Jeswin Aldrin producing a leap of 8.42 metres was awesome. Triple Jumper Praveen Chithravel has also grabbed headlines. So, Indian athletics is not just about Neeraj Chopra, it is good to see so many more champions emerging. The big test will be the Asian Games first. Coaches are working in sync with the athletes.

Badminton, too, has seen churning. PV Sindhu fired coach Park Tae Sang and hired Hafiz Hashim. Sindhu and Park produced a medal in Tokyo but she wanted a change. Returning from a heel injury, how she performs at the All England Badminton Championship will be watched with injury. She goes in without a seeding at the All England, to be held from March 14 to 19. Saina Nehwal will also be competing, again minus a seeding. There are some names in the men’s section as well, but the big worry is who will take over the mantle once Sindhu and Saina say goodbye.

Not much has been heard about the junior development programme in badminton. P.Gopichand has done his bit for Indian badminton but there are no new names one can reel off, who will make an impact in the next two years. One cannot flog the old horses forever. That much Indian sport has learnt.

The world is preparing for Paris 2024 and figuring out which disciplines will be there in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Sport is non-stop, sport takes no break, really. How India can match the furious pace will be interesting to watch. Indian sport needs new champions as well, and that effort will require great talent identification and nurturing. Coaches have their job cut out. New India is ready to support its athletes. The big question is: Will athletes slog it out with tunnel vision?