Patiala: India’s middle and long distance coach Nikolai Snesarev of Belarus was Friday found dead in his hostel room at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) here, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said.
The dead body of the 72-year-old Snesarev, who returned to India after a gap of two years to be at the helm till the end of September, has been sent to a government hospital for post-mortem.
“We can only know the reason behind his death after the post-mortem reports comes in. He was found dead with his running boots on”
Adille Sumariwalla
“Snesarev had come to NIS (from his Bangalore base) for the Indian Grand Prix 3 held Friday. But when he did not turn up for the meet, the coaches checked for him in the evening and his room was found locked from inside,” AFI president Adille Sumariwalla told this agency.
“When the door was broken, Snesarev was found lying on his bed. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) doctor at the NIS declared him dead and the ED (team) of SAI has referred the body to the government hospital for post mortem. We don’t know the cause of death. We will know it later after post-mortem,” Sumariwalla added.
Snesarev was at the NIS running track in the morning with his wards but did not turn up for the meet which started at 2.00pm. “Snesarev died with his boots on, having overseen his wards’ training this morning,” the AFI said in its tribute in a release issued later.
Snesarev was coaching 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, who has qualified for the Olympics, and other middle and long-distance runners in their bid to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
“I’m deeply saddened to learn about the sad demise of middle and long distance running coach Nikolai Snesarev. He has been a great coach and helped many medal winners during his association with India since 2005. My condolences to his family and the entire athletics fraternity,” Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted.
Snesarev had quit from the position in February 2019 after Sable opted to leave him and train under Army coach Amrish Kumar. His contract then was till the end of the Olympics, postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.