NO STARS TO TRAIN

Arpinder & Sreeshankar prefer personal coaches over AFI-appointed Bedros

- Aditya K Halder in New Delhi

THE Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) decision to bring back Romanian jump coach Bedros Bedrosian seems to have backfired as top jumpers in the country with a stronger claim for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics continue to train at their preferred centres.

Long jumper M Sreeshankar and triple jumper Arpinder Singh are two athletes with a strong shot at Olympic qualification and have already begun their pre-season under respective personal coaches.

While Arpinder — aiming qualifying mark of 17.14m — is training under JSW coach Antony Yaich in Karnataka’s Vijaynagar, Sreeshankar is training with his father Murali in hometown Palakkad with the aim to breach the qualification standard of 8.22m.

Bedrosian, meanwhile, is responsible for group of long and high jumpers at the national camp in Thiruvananthapuram since being appointed in October as AFI claimed they needed a good foreign coach back at the helm with the Olympics nearing.