SAI sacks India’s Greco-Roman foreign coach after grapplers fail to qualify for Olympics

New Delhi: The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Friday sacked Georgian wrestling coach Temo Kazarashvili for non-performance since no Indian Greco Roman wrestlers succeeded in qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. 

Kasarashvili, a former two-time world champion, was appointed in February 2019 to train India's Greco Roman wrestlers at the national camp till Olympics.

While four men's free style wrestler and as many women secured their berth for the upcoming Olympics, no Greco Roman grappler was able to qualify for the multi-sport extravaganza, scheduled to start in Tokyo from July 23.

''Sports Authority of India (SAI) has relieved foreign wrestling coach Temo Kazarashvili of his contract after no Indian Greco-Roman grappler secured Olympic Games qualification,'' the SAI said in a statement.

''The decision was taken following a recommendation from the Wrestling Federation of India. His contract with SAI was from February 2019 till the Olympics,'' it added.

At the recent world qualifiers in Sofia, Bulgaria - the final qualifying event for Tokyo - the Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers had drawn a blank.

Anshu (67kg), Gurpreet Singh (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg) and Deepanshu (97kg) lost in the opening round. Sachin Rana (60kg) was forced to pull out due to illness while Naveen Kumar (130kg) couldn't compete after testing COVID-19 positive before his opening bout.

Eight Indian freestyle wrestlers- Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Deepak Punia (86kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) in men's category and Seema Bisla (50kg), Vinesh Phogat (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg) and Sonam Malik (62kg) in women's divisions have qualified for the Tokyo. (UNI)