NEW DELHI: The country is looking at resuming sports activities in the coming weeks but foreign coaches associated with Olympic disciplines will be conspicuous by their absence.
Most of these coaches have returned to their countries of origin and are either unable to travel back - because of the ban on international flights - or unwilling to do so in the near future because of the rising number of
coronavirus cases here. Others who are above 65 have been told by their respective
National Sports Federations
(NSFs) not to show up at training venues as per the government guidelines.
In athletics, three out of seven foreign experts are either 65 years or above. These include quartermiler coach Galina Bukharina (75), jumps coach Bedros Bedrosian (66) and shot put/discus throw expert Yuri Minakov (65). Athletes under these coaches are forced to train with Indian support staff.
Javelin
throwers,
Neeraj Chopra and
Shivpal Singh, were training under biomechanics expert Dr Klaus Bartonietz, who has flown back to Germany for one full month.
In boxing, women's chief foreign coach Raffaele Bergamasco returned to Italy to be with his cancer-stricken wife. High-performance director Santiago Nieva too wants to visit his family in Sweden for a few weeks and has approached the
boxing
federation with a request for leave.
In shooting, pistol coach Pavel Smirnov is above 65 years of age. Italian skeet coach Ennio Falco only travels to India for camps and tournaments but with international flights suspended and cases on the rise, he too isn't willing to join the squad.
In football, head coach of the women's under-17 team, Sweden's
Thomas Dennerby
and his compatriot, fitness coach Per Karlsson, had flown back home in March. In wrestling, omen's freestyle coach, American Andrew Cook, was recently sacked by the federation on disciplinary grounds.