Sailing coach for India quits ahead of Asian Games

Remember Stephane Cottalorda? The Frenchman was India's first ever foregign Boxing coach for the Indian Women's Team. He resigned from his post in September 2017 due to unfulfilled promises by the Boxing Federation of India ahead of the Women's Asian Championships in Vietnam later that month. Now, this incident of unsatisfied coaches seems to be repeating itself for India's sailing contingent. In what is definitely a setback for the Indian Sailing contingent, Australia’s Ian Stuart Warren, the team's chief choach, has resigned due to alleged discrepancies with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regarding his contract. According to the

Times of India, The Indian administrative body has been accused of going back on several promises which are a part of his contract. Warren't contract, initially, had been set till the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It has been 15 months since his appointment back in February last year and he was reportedly gathering a salary of $8,000 per month. The most immediate effect this departure will have is on the team of 29 sailors who are scheduled to travel to Jakarta for the Asian Sailing Championship. The competition in the host city of the Asian Games is set to begin from June 18 and is to be considered a practice event for the upcoming Asian Games. The performance of the sailors in this tournament would also have formed the foundation for the selection of the team for the Asiads. This is, however, not the first such incident to plague sailors in the recent weeks. Earlier, it was speciality coach Jyrke Jarvi from Finland who decided to cut short his stay with the national team after citing a delay in the payment of his salary, € 10,000, by SAI. Jarvi was roped in to specifically train 49er and 49FX class sailors of the team. According to TOI, this is what Warren resignation letter read like:

“At last count, SAI owed me an approximate figure of $12,000 to 14,000 as dues.”

But Yachting Association of India (YAI) has a different take. “Warren was not in good health and having some personal issues back home. He wanted a reason to quit, so he put the blame on the YAI," YAI’s secretary general Ajay Narang was quoted as saying by TOI.