AFI president opens up on javelin coach Uwe Hohn sacking, says athletes didn't want to train with him

Right after the Tokyo Olympics, the AFI ended their association with javelin coach Uwe Hohn, with an unsatisfactory performance by the latter as the main reason. The German was in charge of Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani, who both failed to make it to the final of the javelin events at the Olympics. 

AFI president Adille Sumariwalla explained that the coach was removed purely on the basis of non-performance. "Very simple, Hohn has not delivered as a coach. The athletes have done very badly at the Olympic Games. The target he said he will achieve at the Olympic Games was not achieved," Sunraiwalla told The Bridge.in.

While many might think that Neeraj Chopra trained under Hohn, but that was not the case. It was after 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games that Chopra was put under biomechanics expert, Klaus Bartonietz.

"Uwe Hohn is not Neeraj Chopra's coach for the last two years. Chopra has been training under Klaus for long," explained Sumariwalla.

"I don't need to speak to the athletes. There was feedback from the High-Performance Director and SAI. It is not one thing that we do. It is a continuous monitoring process. The decisions we take are professional, well thought out and for the betterment of India and Indian athletics. He has got nothing to do with the gold medal. He was training Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani. He has not been Neeraj's coach for the last two years. Even when Neeraj went abroad before the Olympics he went with Dr Klaus. Uwe Hohn was here with these two athletes. Uwe Hohn is the coach of Shivpal and Annu," Sumariwalla asserted.

But many look at Hohn's sacking as the after-effects of the entire controversy which broke out before the Olympics, where the former had expressed his views about the functioning of Indian athletics.

"Journalists have to make stories and I know what journalism is all about and what they are pressured to do. I know how the system works. People can think what they want. This decision was pure and simply performance-based. None of the athletes wanted to train with him. It is as simple as that."