Kolkata: With just a few hours left until the start of the Tokyo Olympics, Indian athletes’ preparations are in full effect. Not just the athletes, but it’s a big test for the coaches too, who have prepared these precious diamonds for so many years to be at this level.
However, the coaches generally remain under-appreciated in comparison to athletes. It takes the combined efforts of both parties to bring anything up. On that note, Sportslight Media would like to applaud the coaches who worked tirelessly day and night to prepare the Indian contingent for the quadrennial event in Japan:
Hockey
Graham Reid (Men’s Hockey)
Graham Reid was appointed as the men’s hockey team head coach replacing Harendra Singh in 2019. And within a couple of years, the players’ performances had improved noticeably under his direction.
Currently, the Indian hockey team had been in its best form and expected to bag a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The Men in Blue have been terrific before the Tokyo Olympics winning six times and losing just once in 10 matches in 2021. These include India’s unbeaten European tour and the FIH Peo League matches against Argentina.
His primary goal now will be to break India’s 41-year medal drought in Olympics. The 57-year-old was a part of Australia’s Olympic hockey team that won silver in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Sjoerd Marijne (Women’s Hockey)
Dutchman Marijne came on board as head coach of India’s women’s hockey team in 2017. Since his arrival, the 47-year-old had been applauded for playing a critical role in the squad’s improved performance.
Marijne had been determined to assist the women’s hockey team in bringing home their first Olympic medal from the Tokyo Olympics. Previously, he coached the Indian men’s hockey team for two years before being replaced by Graham Reid.
Gymnastics
Laxman Manohar Sharma
Laxman Manohar Sharma had been preparing India’s lone gymnast Pranati Nayak for the Olympics in Tokyo. Nayak is the second Indian female to qualify for the Olympics after Dipa Karmakar at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Badminton
Mathias Boe (Men’s Doubles)
Mathias Boe had been coaching Indian badminton doubles duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. Last year, the former Danish champion was named India’s doubles coach to assist the pair in preparing for the Tokyo Olympics. At the 2012 London Olympics, Boe won a silver medal in the men’s doubles.
Agus Santoso (Men’s singles)
Agus Santoso had been preparing B. Sai Praneeth in the men’s singles for the Tokyo Olympics. India’s chief coach Pullela Gopichand was scheduled initially to travel to Tokyo but made way to accommodate Santoso.
Park Tae-sang (Women’s singles)
Park Tae-sang had been coaching India’s female badminton star and medal contender PV Sindhu for some time now. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the former South Korean shuttler competed in the men’s singles but was defeated in the third round.
Boxing
CA Kuttappa (Men’s Boxing)
In 2018, CA Kuttappa was named head coach of the Indian men’s boxing team. He is a part of the country’s boxing delegation to the Olympics in Tokyo. Kuttappa has played a critical role in the country’s significant rise in boxing in recent years, following the disappointment of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Mohammed Ali Qamar (Women’s Boxing)
Mohammed Ali Qamar will be the chief coach of the Indian women’s boxing team at the Tokyo Olympics. Ali Qamar had played an important role in preparing the female boxers to qualify for the Olympics. The Arjuna Award winner won a gold medal in the men’s light flyweight division at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Chotte Lal Yadav
Chotte Lal Yadav had been the personal coach of Mary Kom since 2016. He would be accompanying her in the quest of the Tokyo Olympics. During his playing days, Yadav competed at the Asian Games, Asian Championships, and South Asian Games.
Apart from the above-mentioned three, Santiago Nieva and Raffaele Bergamasco are also on the list.
Wrestling
Shako Bentinidis
For a while now, the 45-year-old had been coaching Bajrang Punia, one of India’s top medal contenders at the Tokyo Olympics for India. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the former Greek wrestler competed in the men’s 74 kg and lost in the quarterfinals.
Woller Akos
Woller Akos will accompany Vinesh Phogat to the Japanese capital as her personal coach. Following her defeat in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Rio Olympics due to a knee injury, he has been credited with shaping Phogat’s wrestling career.
Murad Gaidarov
As a personal coach, the 48-year-old will accompany Deepak Punia. The 22-year-old won a gold medal at the World Junior Wrestling Championships and a silver medal at the World Wrestling Championships under his tutelage in 2019. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Gaidarov won a silver medal in the men’s 74kg freestyle category.
Shooting
Ronak Pandit
Ronak Pandit is a pistol coach who had worked with Indian shooters for many years. Instead of foreign shooting coach Pavel Smirnov, he will accompany the country’s shooting contingent to Tokyo. Pandit will look after pistol shooters Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat, Abhishek Verma, and Yashaswini Singh Deswal for the Tokyo Olympics.
Oleg Mikhailov
The Indian rifle shooting team is led by head coach Oleg Mikhailov. In 2017, he was appointed by the National Rifle Association of India. Mikhailov has played an important role in the success of the country’s rifle shooters since then and will accompany the shooting contingent to the Tokyo Olympics.
Divyansh Singh Panwar, Deepak Kumar, Sanjeev Rajput, Elavenil Valarivan, Anjum Moudgil, and Apurvi Chandela are among the rifle shooters who will train with Mikhailov in Japan.
Table Tennis
Sanmay Paranjape and Soumyadeep Roy
After receiving a special request from Narinder Batra, Sanmay Paranjape will accompany the Indian table tennis team to the Tokyo Olympics. He works as a personal coach for Manika Batra, India’s top female table tennis player. Besides Paranjape, Roy has also accompanied the Indian contingent in Tokyo. Roy is also the personal coach of Sutirtha Mukherjee.
Javelin
Uwe Hohn
Uwe Hohn will accompany three javelin throwers – Neeraj Chopra, Annu Rani, and Shivpal Singh – to the Tokyo Olympics. In 2019, the former German javelin thrower was named coach. The 58-year-old became the only javelin thrower to have thrown over 100 meters (104.80m), breaking the world record of 99.72m set at the 1984 Olympics.
Rowing
Ismail Baig
Ismail Baig has been the head of Indian rowing for the past 22 years. He will be traveling to Tokyo with rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh. Under his mentorship, India had won 156 international medals.
Fencing
Nicola Zanotti
For the past five years, Nicola Zanotti has been the coach of Indian fencer CA Bhavani Devi. Devi became the first fencer from her country to qualify for the Summer Games by making the Tokyo Olympics cut.
Shot Put
Mohinder Singh Dhillon
Dhillon is a personal trainer for Tajinderpal Singh Toor, the national record holder in shot put. He is a recipient of the prestigious Dhronacharya award by the Government of India.
Athletics
P Radhakrishnan Nair
P Radhakrishnan Nair has travelled to Tokyo with the Indian athletics team. In 2020, he was named head coach of the Indian track and field by the Athletics Federation of India. As a chief coach, his primary goal will be to ensure that the athletes do not leave the quadrennial event empty-handed.
S Murali
S Murali is the coach and father of long jumper Murali Sreeshankar. He will be travelling to accompany his son and the Indian athletics contingent to the Tokyo Olympics.
Nagapuri Ramesh
Nagapuri Ramesh is the national coach of women’s track and field and had been training Dutee Chand for the Olympics in Tokyo. Chand has qualified for the women’s 100m and 200m sprints.
Amrish Kumar
Amrish Kumar, the coach of 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, will accompany the Indian delegation to the Olympics in Tokyo. Sable is India’s first steeplechaser to qualify for the Olympics since 1952.
Apart from the above-mentioned four; Galina Bukharina, Dr Klaus, Mohinder Singh, Rajmohan K, Alexander Artsybashev, Alexander Sinitsyn, Rakhi Tyagi and Gurmeet Singh are also on the list.
