IAAF steps in to help Indian athletics find its feet

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 6

The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to establish a high performance excellence centre in India, apart from revamping the country’s coaching system by regularly holding seminars for the Indian coaches.

In a major breakthrough for Indian athletics, it has been agreed between IAAF, AFI and SAI to develop the Jawahar Lal Nehru (JLN) stadium here as the ‘High Performance Academy’ with an aim to provide modern coaching, integrated support service and a professional atmosphere to the athletes. The academy will primarily focus on the IAAF Youth & Junior World Championships, Youth Olympic Games and the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

While SAI will be responsible for the funding and providing the necessary infrastructure, IAAF will provide specialist foreign coaches in sprints, discus throw, high jump, heptathlon and decathlon. AFI will assist in the management of the academy and the athletes.

As part of the tripartite agreement, IAAF will send renowned coaching experts who will visit the academy twice a year during the ‘competition period’ and the ‘conditioning period’.

The experts will share their knowledge with the Indian coaches by holding two to four-week long seminars on regular basis. 

“India will be playing a central role in the development of athletics in the years to come. It’s important for IAAF to develop India by providing the right kind of infrastructure to talented athletes and, most importantly, put in place a good coaching system. My primary discussion with the AFI and SAI officials revolved around the importance of coaching because the coaches’ education programme is very important,” IAAF president Sebastian Coe told reporters here today.

“I am a product of good coaching. My father was my coach and he created a perfect ecosystem around me. It’s because of the discipline and the specialised training that I was able to compete at the highest level. Coaching is an integral part for the development of young athletes around the world. The IAAF experts would be providing Level 1, 2 and 3 coaching education at the academy. I have been watching the Indian track and field teams compete for the last 20 years, and the gap is closing on the rest of the world.  My job as the IAAF president would be to ensure that this particular gap continues to close at a faster rate. The Indian coaches, for sure, would benefit from this MoU,” the 59-year-old Briton added.

According to SAI DG Injeti Srinivas, the academy would become operational in 2-3 months’ time and a talent identification drive would be carried out across India by AFI to identify the core probables. Indian athletics has predominantly suffered from the lack of quality home-grown coaches, sports physiologists and poor training infrastructure. The other major issue has been the lack of awareness about food supplements and nutritional diets.

Chinese athletes benefitted from the Sport Science College (SSC) of the Beijing Sport University (BSU) during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the setting-up of a similar centre in India might result in a change of fortune of the Indian athletes.