Indian weightlifters to get foreign high performance director

Express News Service

CHENNAI: AVEENASH Pandoo will soon be joining as a high performance director with the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF).

His appointment will see the first foreigner working with the Indian weightlifters since the foreign coach of the 2000 Sydney Olympic bronze medallist Karnam Malleswari.  

“We specified the need for a high performance director in our annual calendar of training and competition (ACTC). The government approved it. A letter of appointment will be issued to him today (Friday) following which he will be given a work visa. He is expected to join soon,” Sahdev Yadav, president of the IWLF, told this daily.

It is learnt that the sports ministry has approved his tenure for one year and will renew it annually till the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Born in Mauritius, Pandoo has coached Indonesia and South Africa in the past. He is a member of the Coaching and Research Committee of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

Among the key responsibilities he will be assigned with, Pandoo has to prepare a long-term athlete development pathway for junior and youth weightlifters training at three national centres of excellence (NCOEs) – Patiala, Aurangabad and Lucknow. “He will visit these centres regularly. The athlete development pathway aims at uniform training to lifters at these three centres. The training should be systemised. The training methodology should also be the same. He should also introduce a monitoring system for athletes,” informed Yadav.

Besides, the new high performance director would also be required to do a gap analysis to see what other requirements are for the development and promotion of the sport in the country.

“He is also entrusted with the responsibility to develop a competition structure at national, zonal and state level and introduce a transparent ranking system. Sports Authority of India will also help him in developing the ranking system.”

Pandoo, who has roots in Maharashtra, will also develop coaches’ education programmes during his stint with the IWLF. “Though the NIS updated courses for coaches last year, Pandoo will study it further and bring it to the international standard. He will also develop referees’ and judges’ development programmes. He is also supposed to help in improving our talent identification system so that we can have a good bench strength,” signed off Yadav.