They hold a lot of promise

O. M. NAMBIAR, former coach of India's most successful athlete, P. T. Usha, promises great deeds from the five girls under his tutelage in a couple of years.

Nambiar, who was in Visakhapatnam in connection with the recent National under-22 athletic championships, has a lot of confidence in the five girls handpicked by him - R. Sukumari, Linet K. Mathew, Jiji S, Nicy Joseph and Shiba Joseph.

They are being trained in 100m, 200m, 400m and the two relay events at the Police Grounds in Cannanore, best suited for practice as no outsider is allowed to distract them, according to Nambiar. They have to their credit, records in the Kerala State meets and the coach is certain that they would do better once they start participating in more competitive events at the National and international levels.

Nambiar picked them up five years ago (when he was still with the Kerala Sports Council) when they were between 10 and 12 years of age during his talent hunt in Kerala.

He had seen nearly 2,000 boys and girls in action and selected 10 and short listed them to five. ``The selected five are natural athletes and have the right material'', said Nambiar and wished that they also have the single-minded determination of Usha.

The famous coach, who retired from the Kerala Sports Council a few months ago, now coaches only these five girls. He would give them an year's schedule much in advance and the day starts with a one-hour session of physical training.

The training is in the morning and evening and in between the girls attend their schools or colleges.

Why is the Dronacharya awardee concentrating only on girls? It is not so. He picked up a boy, Girish along with the five girls and after achieving certain level, he did not see the boy again and later he was given a job by an organisation, said Nambiar.

The five girls and the coach were being sponsored by V-Guard which was taking care of their boarding, lodging, clothing (both normal and sports wear), kit and provide for stay, allowances and travel expenses when they were participating in meets.

Among the five, Sukumari and Linet represented Kerala in the championships here and the former showed her talent in the 400m relay when she secured Kerala a 25 metre lead running the first leg.

Kerala was able to win the race in a record time and with a massive lead over the second- placed Punjab, thanks to the head start provided by Sukumari.

A degree student, Sukumari missed the bronze in the 400m event while Linet was among the Kerala quartet that won silver in the shorter relay.

Nambiar, while commenting on the athletics scene of the country, said that no standard methods were being adopted.

There was also a need to discipline the sports associations whose office-bearers were interested only in retaining their posts and do little for the improvement of the sportspersons. ``The Government must have a control over the associations and should not allow them to act as they like'', said the senior coach. Also there was no follow up of spotting the talent during a national meet and concentrating on the same.

He also felt that the Government and sports bodies must jettison the idea of engaging foreign coaches. Instead they should provide the Indian coaches with the required facilities and perks to train the sportspersons.

G. NARASIMHA RAO,

Visakhapatnam

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