Focus on personal support staff policy in MOC meet

Express News Service

Finally, the Mission Olympic Cell meeting was convened on Thursday — the first since the Tokyo Olympics. Apart from the announcement of the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) PK Garg, who is taking charge from Monday, there were discussions around India’s Tokyo show and the way forward. 

One such topic that was discussed was about personal coaches. It had been one of the biggest unwanted issue ahead of the Olympics. There were needless controversies involving personal coaches and physios. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) wants the National Sports Federations (NSFs) like shooting, badminton and wrestling to follow certain guidelines or prepare comprehensive policies regarding personal coaches and physios accompanying individual athletes. 

In the lead up to the Olympics, this had been an issue and the SAI wants to avoid it during the Asian and Commonwealth Games. It seems logical because there are set number of slots (usually decided by percentage) for coaches and support staff at any mega multi-discipline event. And because of certain individual athletes, others’ requirements should not be compromised.

One such advise was to include all such personal coaches and support staff as part of the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition and should be available for others if the need arises. Badminton is one sport that always has this issue. Table tennis saw it when Manika Batra wanted her personal coach with her at the Games. Wrestling also was involved in this needless issue involving coaches and physios of Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia. 

This policy, perhaps, may not be an ideal solution, but the pre-departure drama before the Olympics prompted the SAI to advice federations to come up with a policy. Whether this is a viable solution needs to be seen. What happens if a top athlete like Neeraj Chopra or PV Sindhu tells the NSF that they need their coach and support staff? Or will there be exceptions for top athletes while others have to toe the NSF and SAI line? Whatever it is, it seems this time SAI would try and streamline Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) approval for athletes. 

Take for instance the case of a swimmer in the last Olympic cycle. Sajan Prakash, who represented India at the Olympics in Tokyo, was inducted in the TOPS late — last two months. Among other sanctions, the swimmer had requested for a fee for his coach and pool in Dubai where he was training. However, his demands were rationalised after a discussion between the federation and the SAI. It is to be noted that Sajan receives a FINA scholarship of around $2000 a month for training.

The TOPS core group was not part of the discussion on Thursday. It is understood the federations were told to evaluate and assess the athletes’ performances by end of November, including the demand for foreign coaches.