National coaches lash out at foreign colleagues after poor display in selection trials

The recent selection trials for the upcoming senior World Championships turned up with some interesting results and some major upsets for the national level wrestlers. There was a major embarrassment for the top Indian wrestlers such as Utkarsh Kale, Sandeep Tomar and Satyendra who suffered losses at the hands of local opponents. 

The Indian coaches have blamed their international colleagues for the embarrassing losses suffered by TOPS scheme affiliated wrestlers Sandeep and Utkarsh at the hands of Rahul from the city's Chhatrasal stadium. 

"Ideally, the two wrestlers should have fought the final bout, but they lost in the initial round. These are India seniors who have been on the wrestling scene for a considerable time. Still, they lost to a wrestler, who is promising but is not a part of the national setup. This is primarily because the wrestlers are confused. When there were no foreign coaches for close to three years since the 2016 Rio Olympics, the wrestlers trained under Indian coaches and followed their technique. Now that these foreign experts have landed a couple of months back, they are suddenly looking to change the technique rather than fine-tuning what the wrestlers already had. Look, our strength is attacking in standing form and stamina, but we need to improve on the ground attack (on the mat).

"Also, some wrestlers face the dietary dilemma. We follow a different diet, but foreign coaches insist on a different diet plan which is not to the liking of wrestlers. Language barrier also plays its part to a great extent. Indian coaches have their own style of communicating to wrestlers and they can pump up their confidence during practice and actual competition by talking in a native language. A foreign coach instructing wrestlers in his own language may not have the same affect," the coach told TOI reporters. 

After interviewing certain wrestlers, reports further revealed that some youngsters were indeed confused over the contrasting coaching methods of Indian and foreign coaches. 

"To some extent, yes we get confused. It's difficult to follow everyone's technique. An Indian coach will have his own style of training and foreign expert his own. During competitions, sometimes both instruct us from corners which confuses us. Bajrang trains exclusively with his private coach, but others don't have such luxury," an unnamed wrestler told TOI.