Federations, coaches told to give report on athletes’ progress

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 18

The Sports Ministry and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) have asked the Indian and foreign coaches attached with several National Sports Federations to provide progress reports of their athletes.

The coaches have to show the progress made by the junior and senior squad members in the last six months. The bosses are especially keen about what is happening in the junior development programmes across major sports disciplines.

The coaches will also have to list out what targets have been set for the athletes in the coming six months.

They have been asked to give a detailed presentation to SAI director teams Meena Bora, R Rajagopalan, who heads the TOPS, and Abhai Jawa, who is the OSD (teams).

Sources told The Tribune that this step will go a long way to monitor the work of the coaches, some of whom are being paid over $10000 in salary.

“We have to look at the work done by the coaches. They have to be accountable as well,” the source said.

The first federation to submit the report was the Boxing Federation of India. The high performance director of the men’s boxing team, Santiago Nieva, has already met Rajagopalan. 

On Wednesday, Nieva and women’s team coach Raffaele Bergamasco had a meeting with Bora and Rajagopalan.

App ready for launch

Meanwhile, the Sports Ministry’s app for the athletes is ready for launch. Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore had announced plans to launch the app late last year.

The app will act as a tool to monitor the athletes and also help them in processing their files for availing funds for training. Currently, the process — from the athletes’ application submission to seeking an approval from the officials and the finance committee — sometimes takes weeks to complete.

“The beta version will be launched in one of the camps that are being run. We will go there and teach them how to use it and how to enter their demands. In many of the cases they don’t know what to say in their applications,” a source said.

“But in the app, things will move quickly and project officers will have to respond within three days on the application. All the comments made by the relevant departments will be seen by the athlete. So if their application is rejected they will know the real reason,” he added.