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Kerala’s 22-year-old star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar’s father S Murali will not be allowed to travel as a coach during an international assignment under the aegis of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) in 2022. The decision has widened the rift between India's promising athlete and the national governing body in athletics.
The decision to ban Sreeshankar’s father as his coach was on the cards as the Indian long jumper failed to impress at last month’s Tokyo Olympics.
The AFI officially announced the decision to ban Sreeshankar’s father from international travel after a two-day executive council meeting that concluded Monday in Jaipur.
While Sreeshankar’s personal best of 8.26m was set in March, his best jump in the Tokyo Olympics qualification round was 7.69m. The Indian athlete failed to advance to the medal round.
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Instead of Sreeshankar’s father coaching and accompanying his son to international events, the AFI will appoint a foreign expert to guide the youngsters for the 2022 season.
Both the Commonwealth and Asian Games will feature in the 2022 season. The World Athletics Championships in Eugene is the third major international event of the 2022 season.
Harsh decision from AFI: Sreeshankar
The AFI's decision to ban his father from traveling to international events, however, hasn’t gone down well with Sreeshankar.
“It is harsh decision not to allow my father to accompany me as coach during international competitions. I have performed under him. I set a national record of 8.20m under my father's guidance in 2018. I qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games with a jump of 8.26m in March. It is a different matter I couldn’t repeat my performance in Japan,” Sreeshankar told Sportskeeda.
According to Sreeshankar it is a collective responsibility as he couldn’t repeat his March performance of 8.26m in Tokyo.
“My father alone isn’t responsible for the poor show in Tokyo. As an athlete I am also responsible,” he added.
The national record holder, however, is confident of bouncing back next season.
“I will do my best in the 2022 season. There is Commonwealth and Asian Games. I hope to qualify for both competitions,” Sreeshankar said.
Sreeshankar has been training under his father’s tutelage in Kerala and not at the AFI’s organized national camps. Despite AFI’s invitation to join the national camp in Bengaluru or Patiala, the youngster was reluctant, which was a bone of contention between the athlete and the athletics governing body.
However, it is uncertain whether Sreeshankar will join the national camp to prepare for the 2022 season and train with a yet-to-be-appointed foreign coach in the jumping event.
“I am undergoing rehabilitation work in Bellary and will decide further course of action shortly,” Sreeshankar said from Bellary.
Sreeshankar's tussle with AFI dates back to 2019
Earlier in 2019, AFI’s former high performance director Volker Herrmann took charge of Sreeshankar’s training. Instead of repeating his 8.20m jump record of September 2018, the Indian long jumper failed to qualify for the final of the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships.
Upset by his poor show in Doha, Sreeshankar quit the national camp and went back home to train with his father. Citing personal reasons, Volker then quit his job in November 2020.
In March this year, the long jumper bettered the Tokyo Olympic qualification mark of 8.22m by recording a jump of 8.26m in a domestic meet in Patiala. The performance in Patiala was better than his own national record of 8.20m set in 2018 in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.
Three months later, Sreeshankar was under the AFI scanner as he skipped the National Inter-State Athletics Championship held in the last week of June in Patiala, citing health issues.
To evaluate Sreeshankar’s performance, the AFI announced a fitness test in Bengaluru on July 21.
Sreeshankar’s best jump during the fitness test was 7.40m. Since he was unable to touch the 8m mark, it looked doubtful whether he would be able to repeat his March performance of 8.26m at the Tokyo Olympics.
To ensure all will be fine, Sreeshankar’s father, a former international triple jumper, gave an undertaking to the AFI on July 22 during a virtual meeting that his son will achieve 8-meter or above in Japan.
“I take the complete responsibility for the performance of my athlete during the Olympic Games,” Sreeshankar’s father had stated.
Since the AFI is yet to announce a national camp for the 2022 season, it would be interesting to keep track of the fresh developments.
