New coach Cook brings a new vigour to Indian team
LUCKNOW:A sudden change in the body language of almost all the wrestlers is evident in the ongoing camp of the Indian women’s team here.
The reason is simple – they now have the services of foreign expert Andrew Cook who has been the head coach and director of Vandit Wrestling Academy Burlington in Washington.
Cook’s entry in the training system ahead of the Asian Championship (April 23-28) at Xi’an (China) is expected to do some tricks for top women wrestlers of India, including Navjot Kaur, who had created history by becoming the only Indian wrestler to win a gold in Senior Asian Championship last year in Kyrgyzstan.
Besides Navjot, Jakarta Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat had a silver medal in the 50 kg category while Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik (62 kg) and Sangeeta Phogat (59 kg) had silver medals too.
“It’s good to have a coach like Cook, who has plenty of experience in coaching and his style of coaching suits to our wrestlers too,” Wrestling Federation of India’s secretary VN Prasood said on Friday.
“It would be too early to expect Cook to do something very amazing as there is little time in Asian Championship but I am sure that he would be helpful for Indians doing well at the 2020 Olympics at Tokyo,” he said.
Even before coming to Lucknow to start his first official assignment with the Indian team (free style), Cook was seen inspiring young wrestlers, especially women, during the Pro-League bouts recently.
Besides him, the WFI is also expecting two other coaches – Iran’s Hossein Karimi (men’s freestyle) and Georgia’s Temo Kazarashvili (Greco-roman) – to begin their stint with Indian wrestlers at Sonepat.
“The sports ministry has cleared the appointment of all three coaches and we are expecting Karimi and Kazarashvili coming to India soon and start coaching,” said Prasood, adding, “We had been demanding foreign coaches since long and now our wait is over since Cook has joined the Indian team at Lucknow.”
In terms of preparations of wrestlers for an all-important Olympic qualifier year for the 2020 Tokyo Games, appointment of coach of repute like Cook has been of a great significance as Indian wrestling had been without a foreign expert since 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It’s an important year for Indian wrestling as there are qualifying tournaments for the 2020 Olympics and getting foreign experts for our wrestlers ahead of those events is a big boost to our plan. I did talk to Cook and he is very happy to work with Indian wrestlers,” said Prasood.