WFI zero in on three foreign coaches for Indian wrestlers ahead of Commonwealth Games

After a long search, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has zeroed in on three foreign coaches for Indian wrestlers — Iran’s Hossein Karimi (for men’s freestyle), Georgia’s Temo Kazarashvili (Greco Roman) and Russia’s Farniev Irbek Valentinovich (women’s freestyle) — according to a report in The Times of India. The report added that all three coaches, who will join the Indian team before the Commonwealth Games, will be initially given a six-month contract until the World Championships in August in Hungary. [caption id=“attachment_3128810” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Earlier last month, The Indian Express had reported how WFI had been in advanced talks with Russian legend Sergei Beloglazov before the talks broke down due to the Indian federation’s “reputation”. The Express report had noted how WFI had earned itself a reputation of only sending Indian coaches abroad during tournaments while foreign coaches were cocooned at Sonepat’s SAI training centre. Beloglazov has coached Russian, American, Japanese and Singaporean national teams in the past. Another report in The Express had mentioned how a desperate WFI had even asked their wrestlers to help them find coaches for the national team. WFI’s hunt for a coach has been ongoing ever since they parted ways with Georgia’s Vladimer Mestvirishvili after the Rio Olympics. Mestvirishvili was associated with the Indian wrestling team for 13 months. Not just Mestvirishvili, WFI also decided to part ways with women’s freestyle coach Roin Doborjginidze and Greco-Roman coach Emzar Makharadze in the aftermath of the Rio Olympics where Indian wrestlers won just one medal — a bronze, courtesy of Sakshi Malik — despite a lot of expectations from them. The Times of India report also noted that Valentinovich will take home a whopping $10,000 per month while Karimi will be paid $3,500 per month. Kazarashvili will have a monthly remuneration of $4,000. Meanwhile, the three Indian coaches — Jagminder Singh (men’s), Kuldeep Malik (women’s) and Kuldeep Singh (Greco Roman) — will still be a part of the Indian wrestling team’s set-up.