SAI recommends Dutee’s coach for Dronacharya

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 30

He was suspended, asked to leave the national camp and spent almost two years in the wilderness in the wake of the 2011 doping scandal, but athletics coach Nagapuri Ramesh has again been able to find the lost respect in the corridors of Indian sports administration.

Ramesh, who along with Russian coach Yuri Ogorodnik and RS Sidhu had been suspended after members of the 2010 CWG and Asian Games gold medal-winning women’s 4x400m relay team failed a dope test, has been recommended for this year’s Dronacharya award by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

Generally, it is the federation — in this case the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) — that forwards the name of a coach for the award. 

In the recent past, SAI forwarded the names of Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards on its own.

The recommendation has come in the wake of Dutee Chand qualifying for the Rio Olympics in the women’s 100m. 

Less than a year after returning to the track, Dutee recently clinched the Olympics berth. She trains under Ramesh in Hyderabad.

Dutee had successfully contested the International Athletics Association’s (IAAF) hyperandrogenism policy.

In its recommendation, SAI has credited Ramesh for shaping up Dutee’s career over the years and keeping her motivated despite the ban.

On earlier occasions, Ramesh’s application for the award was always rejected at the initial stage. On his return from suspension, Ramesh had helped the 4x400m relay team win a gold medal at the Asian Track and Field Championships in 2013. He had applied for the Dronacharya award but his application was never considered by SAI.

But it seems Dutee’s success story has breathed life into his coaching career.