The Wrestling Federation of India has invited applications to hire support staff for Indian wrestlers — in the men’s free style, Greco Roman and women’s team categories — for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
In a communique, the federation has stated that it has invited applications for these posts — physios, nutritionist or dietician, masseurs and mental conditioning coaches — for preparations for the Olympics. It will also hire a professional manager for the national team.
Experienced physiotherapist, biomechanics coach, mental conditioning trainer, and nutritionist will be accompanying the wrestlers to exposure trips abroad.
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According to Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, the WFI president, the initiative has been taken to make teams' preparations more professional. He said, "The federation has decided to hire professionals with a view to bring in more professionalism in teams’ functioning and operations and also ascertain accountability for individual and teams’ performances. These hirings are aimed at preparing the players with a focus on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. These trained hands will closely work with the players at the Olympic preparatory camps in run-up to the Games."
'Significant move'
Sakshi Malik, the bronze medallist at Rio Olympics in 2016, welcomed the initiative. She said, "The new coaches already working with the team and now the news of the induction of professional support staff is a very significant move. This was a much-needed aspect of development and seamless training. I am happy that their presence will help and aid us to recover faster and train in more scientific ways."
Foreign coaches have already been acquired by the federation for the wrestlers, according to the communique. They include Hossein Karimi, Andrew Cook, and Temo Kazarashvili.
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