New foreign coach to assist Bhokanal

July 10, 2016 11:51 pm | Updated October 18, 2016 02:43 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Dattu Bhokanal (left), with coach Ismail Baig at Chungju (Korea) after he qualified for the Rio Olympics.

Dattu Bhokanal (left), with coach Ismail Baig at Chungju (Korea) after he qualified for the Rio Olympics.

It is official. Dattu Bhokanal, the lone Indian rower to have qualified for the Rio Olympics, will be assisted by the US-based foreign coach Rajpaul Singh Mokha and not Ismail Baig who has been guiding the destiny of the rowers for close to two decades now.

Bhokanal had clocked 7 minutes 7.49 seconds in the 2-km course in single scull in the Asia-Oceania qualifying meet in Korea this May to make the cut for the Rio Games.

A visibly distraught Baig is now on long leave having come out of the Army Rowing Node in Pune where the Indian campers had been training.

“It was pretty obvious by the way the Army officials have been treating the issue that they just didn’t want me. In fact, Bhokanal himself confessed that he was being forced to sign that he didn’t want me but only a foreign coach,” Baig said.

Baig was in charge of the rowers from November 2015 to April 2016 to see the Indians meet the qualifying mark, though only Bhokanal made it.

“Yes, I owe a lot to my coach Ismail sir . The best part of his job is he takes care of the nitty-gritty of each rower in the national camp, including diet, recovery phase and improvement of skills,” Bhokanal said.

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