Opinion The foreign hands
Foreign coaches deserve more acknowledgment in Indian sport
In halting English and needlessly apologising for it Russian pistol guru Pavel Smirnov,coach to London silver medallist Vijay Kumar,explained that he wasnt thumping his chest or pumping his fists into cameras when his ward won a medal because hed been busy taking down longhand notes on the rapid-fire pistol final. The nation had lapped up a welcome silver from a little-known shooter. The coach wanted to jot down pointers on how Vijay Kumar missed the top step of the podium,and what could be done so Rio would yield a gold.
The Russian coach did not bellow how he deserved credit. Nor did he sing the patriotic paeans that sound so good in headlines in the immediate aftermath of an Olympic medal. Vijay Kumar knew better. He understood nuance,for hes talked with Smirnov for hours and days and years now,ever since the professorial figure an authority on weapons,stance,ammunition and a shooters trigger attitude had rescued and hauled up Indias pistol programme. The shooter ensured Smirnov was in the picture while voicing his gratitude. Did Smirnov then need any more verbose,nudging recommendations to be considered for a Dronacharya Award?
In a first of its kind decision,a foreign coach,B.I. Fernandez,got the prestigious award this year,which,till now,has been restricted to Indians the visible faces,the quoting voices,the hyphenated father figures who,with mildly possessive arms around the shoulders of their medallist charges,staked their claims to the honour. The foreign coach,meanwhile,patches up things backstage,repairs techniques,recharges failing spirits and quietly takes a pay packet that would be grudgingly described as handsome.
The coach from Cuba,Fernandez,spent two decades grooming Indian boxers,doing their backroom thinking,but when cameras panned the Indian corner,he was seen merely fanning a towel. Not that Fernandez would claim an award he was a tad surprised,in fact,when he heard of the Drona but two decades of single-minded service could have yielded him a domicile and even gushing offers of citizenship in other parts of the world.
No one asks that Indian coaches be undermined. But a case needs to be made for the foreign hands and heads that are steering Indias Olympic ambitions into the realm of excellence. India has only recently begun to offer decently upgraded infrastructure to its athletes. The cutting-edge expertise has come mainly from a clutch of foreign coaches who deserve to be feted as much as their Indian counterparts. It would be a good gesture towards Stanislav Lapidus (Gagan Narangs Kazakh coach) or Marcello Dradi (the go-to man for Indias shotgun shooters) to be at least considered for a Drona.
One of the most significant coaching contributions in Indian sport in recent years has gone unthanked,for she does not carry the navy blue Indian passport. Gabriele Buhlmann,who was range-side for Abhinav Bindra when he picked gold at Beijing,and crucially watching out for him throughout his medal-clinching training in Germany,remains largely unapplauded by Indians.
Similarly,the two Georgians,Emzar Makhardze and Vladimir Mestvirishvili,who coached Indias immensely successful wrestlers in London,will forever go unrecognised in the street,and didnt even get to accompany them to the Games. Nor did the South Korean Lim Chae Woong,who archer Deepika Kumari could have benefited from but did not,thanks to the federations insistence on sending an Indian,a former star with little knowledge of coaching.
A generation of shooters fondly recalls the contributions of the Australian Tibor Gonczol who brought professionalism to Indian shooting in the 1990s,and the Czech Laszlo Scuzak who made the rifle programme up-to-speed in the country. But they are hardly known in India. Like the genial,ever-smiling Indonesian Atik Jauhari,who could set aside the celebrations for Saina Nehwal,sit down calmly and plot a part of her strategies against the Chinese.
A caricatured perception of foreign coaches in India which demeans both them and the athletes is that the wards heed their advice because they rifle away instructions in English or because they are fair-skinned.
But ask the athletes and theyll tell you. They need a steady voice of reason that advises them a bronze or silver isnt enough,someone who understands just why a bent shoulder angle is a few degrees off in shooting or why the arrows arent piercing a 10 but only a 9 in archery. Its time to appreciate those who counsel beyond the vague kibitz to try harder and play for the country. Someone like the German Heinz Reinkemeier who told prone shooter Joydeep Karmakar a fellow who clowns around to mask his clumsiness after finishing fourth at London,that for the world he might be a joker,but in his eyes he was Clint Eastwood. Not all foreign coaches are that eloquent or even speak Hindi or English,but when penning down the Dronacharya Awards,India cannot ignore the foreigner who is fundamentally erudite and who imparts expertise unmindful of nationalistic limits.
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