WFI introduces new regulations for coaches, will be applicable from senior wrestling Nationals in November

The Wrestling Federation of India continues to make changes to its coaching structure to take the sport to the next level. The federation on Thursday issued a circular to introduce new regulations in order to bring discipline among coaches at different national level competitions.

As per the circular, the coaches will now need to share personal details like father's name, Aadhaar number and date of birth in their entry form. The federation will then issue license books – similar to those of wrestlers – at INR 500 per copy to all the coaches selected by the state federations for the wrestling national championships.

Furthermore, the coaches will now need to wear the proper kits issued by the wrestling federation so that they can be easily identified. No other coaches, other than the selected ones, will be allowed to enter the arena, the circular added.

This will help WFI avoid unnecessary confrontation between other team coaches and referees during the competition.

The regulations will come into effect from the National wrestling championship scheduled to be held from November 19 to 21. It will be held at Nandini Nagar, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.

The new regulations come as WFI looks for a major overhaul of the coaching system for the sport ahead of the Asian and Commonwealth Games next year.

What are the other changes Wrestling Federation of India plans to make?

Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh told Sportskeeda that he wants to change the concept of individual coaches.

He explained that in the future the trainers should be responsible for coaching two or more wrestlers instead of an individual.

“There is no problem working with foreign coaches. We have worked with many overseas coaches in the past too. But back then the concerned trainer for responsible for training all the athletes. That was the tradition that we had in Indian wrestling. In my opinion, if we bring in a foreign coach, he should at least take two or three wrestlers under his wing rather than just focussing on one athlete."

"Today we have just one coach per wrestler. With Indian wrestling growing, and the cadets and juniors also performing better, we need more coaches. Ideally, it should be two for cadets, two for juniors and three for the seniors. They should also be responsible for multiple brackets,” Singh said.

He has also expressed his wish to extend the same responsibility to Indian coaches.

“There will be one head coach, but other Indian coaches should also be responsible for having two or three weight classes and groom wrestlers in that,” he added.

The Wrestling Federation of India president, however, added that exceptions could be made for individual cases, especially for big competitions like the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year.