Radhakrishnan Nair appointed as the chief coach of athletics by AFI

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) appointed the 62-year-old Radhakrishnan Nair as the full-time coach of athletics, on Friday. Nair has been serving as the acting chief coach since the resignation of Bahadur Singh in July earlier this year.

“We are happy we will be able to maintain continuity of our planning since Radhakrishnan has been the deputy chief coach for seven years now,” said the AFI President Adille Sumariwalla in a press release by the AFI.

Nair is a certified Technical Official and World Athletics Level-5 coach who has worked tirelessly to develop the education system for coaches in India. He is also the first Indian to have an International Coaching Enrichment Programme Certificate of the International Olympic Committee.

Congratulations to Radhakrishnan Nair who is appointed as the Chief Coach of Indian Athletics pic.twitter.com/sDxNjjVdzr

— Athletics Federation of India (@afiindia) December 4, 2020

What helped Nair grab this post is his implementation of modern coaching methods and sports science while training the athletes.

“We are particularly pleased that his ideas of implementation of modern coaching methods and the use of sports science in the development of young athletes have worked well,” Sumariwalla said.

Nair is said to have been endorsed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for the post and he will also work towards developing the standard of coaching in the country – right from the grass root level with a greater focus against early specialisation and overtraining.