The top Sports Authority of India (SAI) coaches, who have been overseeing the national weightlifting camps in the past, are now under scanner. In a significant development, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF), that has been banned twice in four years from the international scene due to doping violations, has decided to bring in a new panel of coaches to oversee the national camp in the run up to the Youth Commonwealth Games in Pune in 2010. The whole idea behind the change of guard is an attempt to cleanse the system, says IWF secretary BR Gulati. While he didn’t want to go into details of the panel at this moment, he did say that irrespective of past performances and awards, coaches whose trainees have failed drug tests would not be included in the coaches panel.And that move will include keeping out some of the SAI lifting experts, including a Dronacharya awardee. Clarifying that the federation was not pointing fingers towards any individuals, Gulati said: “Coaches that weren’t effective in preventing drug abuse among their lifters will not be on the coaching panel.”The new panel of coaches however, will take charge of all national camps — which would include senior camps — only after the Beijing games. Talking to The Indian Express, Gulati said: “The federation doesn’t want to disturb the whole set up in the run-up to a major event and will continue with the current coaches until then. But after Beijing, there will be a major reshuffle,” he said.Meanwhile, Hungary’s lifting expert Imre Zsuga has been given charge of the Beijing preparatory camp, currently underway in Pune. Four lifters Monica Devi, P Shailija Pujari, Shaya Devi and Geeta Rani were asked to attend the camp . But Delhi-based Arjuna Awardee Geeta Rani will be joining in late due to personal reasons.
