Reports | Indian men’s freestyle wrestling coach Kossein Karimi likely to be sacked

Reports | Indian men’s freestyle wrestling coach Kossein Karimi likely to be sacked

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According to reports, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is likely to sack men’s freestyle national coach Hossein Karimi, six months after the Iranian was hired on a contract till the Tokyo Olympics. It has been learned that Karimi himself is not happy with the way things work in India.

Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is likely to sack men’s freestyle national coach Hossein Karimi. The Iranian had joined the national camp in February on a contract till the Tokyo Olympics. According to reports, the Iranian has been struggling to adjust to the Indian system and is on the verge of being sacked, just six months after his appointment.

He went on leave after India secured its best-ever performance at the Senior World Championships in Nursultan, Kazakhstan, where the men’s freestyle wrestlers won four medals and secured three Olympic quotas. However, the WFI said it is still undecided about sacking Karimi, who as Iran’s national coach, had led his nation to three men’s freestyle medals, including a gold, at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“He is on leave. Let him come back. We have not yet decided if he will continue as men’s freestyle coach or not,” WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar said to the PTI.

It has been learnt that Karimi himself is not happy with the way things work in India. He allegedly wanted to have his own program in place at the national camp in Bahalgarh in Sonepat district but the country’s elite wrestlers were not on board.

“Karimi’s days are numbered. He will soon be gone. The WFI is not happy with him,” a federation source told PTI.

India’s top-ranked wrestlers have been training with different personal coaches. Bajrang Punia has been training with Georgian Shako Bentinidis while Sushil Kumar trains with Russian Kamal Malikov. While, Deepak Punia and Ravi Dahiya, who won a silver and a bronze respectively in Nursultan, are the products of Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium.

“He was struggling to gel with the other Indian coaches at the camp and remained aloof most of the time. He was unhappy since arriving and has been complaining of one or the other thing. The WFI was told about it and it (sacking) was coming,” said a source.

“He was even given a flat near the camp since he did not want to stay inside the SAI Complex where other coaches lived.”

It has also been learnt that Karimi had refused to share a room with one of the fellow support staff members in Nur Sultan resulting in one of the members having to sleep on the couch all those days.

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