New Delhi: Dismissing the report that he has sacked his personal coach Shako Bentinidis, star wrestler Bajrang Punia said Friday that the Georgian is very much in his team and he has no plans to make any change to his support staff.
It has been reported that Bajrang Punia, the only Indian to win three World Championship medals, has parted ways with Shako Bentinidis.
“I fail to understand who has said this and why? Shako is my coach and I should have been asked about it. I really felt bad after reading that frivolous report. There is no truth in it,” Bajrang told this agency, reacting to a media report.
“He (Bentinidis) is my personal coach, arranged by JSW. This is beyond me to understand why it was reported that I have sacked him. Who is saying this and why? I don’t intend to change my coach,” added the World No.1 wrestler in 65kg.
When contacted, JSW said neither they nor Bajrang at any stage wanted to let go Shako.
“It is very clear to us that if Bajrang does not want to train with Shako, we will not have him. But neither Bajrang nor the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) asked us to sack Shako. It’s already been one month that World Championships got over, if we had to take this step, we would have done right after that,” said Manisha Malhotra, Head of Sports Excellence and Scouting, JSW.
The WFI though indeed is not happy with Bentinidis for pressing the protest button when the referee awarded four points to Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov for a throw during his semifinal bout during the Worlds. It had cost Bajrang an extra point which WFI felt robbed the Indian of a place in the final. WFI is also not happy that Bajrang’s leg defense is still very weak.
The WFI said it has no information on the issue. “It’s a matter related to Bajrang and only he can decide if he wants Shako with him or not. We have not appointed him. We can’t tell wrestlers that you don’t train with so and so coach. We are concerned with the Olympic medal. If somebody does not train, we can force him to train but Bajrang is training and he has freedom to train with the coach of his choice,” WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said.
PTI