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In a bid to increase the medal tally at the upcoming Asian Games, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had put in a proposal for three foreign coaches to prepare for the Jakarta Asian Games some time back.
However, until now, they were awaiting the government’s clearance on the matter. The national camp commenced on May 7 and the WFI had hoped that it will get the approval by then, but better late than never.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has finally given a favourable response and the federation will be interviewing potential candidates on Monday.
Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of WFI, told Sportskeeda, "We had a meeting with SAI last week. They gave their approval and today, we will be interviewing three coaches via video call. We plan to work with these foreign coaches until the 2020 Olympics."
The federation has already acknowledged that the Asian Games will be no cakewalk. Indeed, 11 out of the 12 wrestlers who went to Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games returned with medals, but the competition in Jakarta will be much stiffer. At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, India had managed to win only five medals, including one gold.
The need to appoint foreign coaches was first realised after India’s below-par performance in the 2017 World Championships in Paris. Back then, Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, who was the then government observer, had recommended the need to appoint foreign experts on priority.
The federation had identified Russia’s Sergei Beloglazov, a former Olympic and world champion, as a potential candidate but the move fell through.
On Monday, the WFI will interview Iran’s freestyle coach Hossein Karimi for the men’s team, Georgian Temo Kazarashvili for the Graeco-Roman squad. For the women's squad, another Russian has been shortlisted.
The appointment of foreign coaches might not go down well with the current Indian coaches who are already working with the grapplers. However, it is expected that they will be working alongside any new recruitments.
