AFI adamant on bringing Yuri back

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 1

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is yet not giving up on its efforts to bring back Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorodnik to train the quarter-miler team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

After the Sports Ministry had rejected the appointment of Yuri as the chief coach of the women's 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay squad, the AFI has approached the Sports Authority of India (SAI) with a fresh proposal to consider the Ukrainian’s name for the coaching position. The SAI has decided to forward the proposal to its high-level steering committee for further deliberation before forwarding it to the Ministry for another review.

Confirming the development, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla told The Tribune that the federation has indeed approached the SAI to appoint Yuri till the Rio Games since majority of the quarter-miler team members are of the view that no one can train them better than him. “Several top athletes have requested the AFI to bring Yuri back for the Rio Games. These athletes are of the view that Yuri is an outstanding coach. Some of the points raised against him while rejecting his application were not valid. His candidature needs a fresh review.”

After agreeing in principle initially, the Ministry had rejected Yuri’s name owing to the controversial circumstances under which he left India four years ago when he was sacked in 2011 after the women's 4x400m relay gold medal winners in the 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games, flunked dope tests.