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Indian weightlifting has got its first high-performance director in Aveenash Pandoo. He will be instrumental in helping the Indian weightlifting team achieve glory at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Pandoo's contract with the Indian federation is till the Paris Olympics. The contract will have a specific focus on the development of junior talent. The development of talent will be done with an eye on the 2028 Olympics, scheduled to be held in Los Angeles.
Pandoo comes with more than two decades of coaching experience in South Africa and Indonesia. In his role as a high-performance director, Pandoo was instrumental in helping two Indonesian lifters get medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Focus on educating the weightlifting coaches
In an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Pandoo said he would adopt an athlete-centric approach. This would enable the federation to focus on their development and training of coaches as well.
“I will see what we already have and look at the roadmap and strategies around it. I want to look at our talent identification and development programs,” he said.
Pandoo added that he would work with the federation to learn more about the nuances before creating a blue print on the talent and grassroots development plan.
“We have to see where the talent is coming from, why is it coming only from this region, and then see what can we do to better or change what is already existing. We will also look at our talent development and obviously that would be coach-led with athletes (at the) centre.”
Pandoo said his focus would be to create a strong coaching structure with the capability to help India produce international champions.
“We will look at the resources that are available, and the coach's education, and see what is lacking,” he said, speaking of developing programs for 100 coaches and 60 referees each year.
