One of the greatest Indian track and field athletes Sriram Singh feels that the country needs to produce plenty of good domestics coaches and all-weather training facilities if it has to win a medal in the Olympics in future in this sporting discipline.
Sriram, one of the few Indian track and field athletes to feature in the final round on an Olympic Games when he did so in the 800m race in 1976 Montreal Games, said the country's athletes need not train abroad if it has good home grown coaches and all-weather facilities.
"I am not against training at foreign countries because we need to update ourselves to the most modern techniques. But that can be done with a few foreign coaches and a line of good domestic coaches. The domestic coaches will have to learn from the foreign coaches," said Sriram, who finished seventh in the 800m race in 1976 Olympics.
"If we have a line of good domestic coaches, we can produce good athletes continuously. That is what is needed for India if we have to win Olympic medals in future," Sriram told PTI in an interview.
Asked if there was lack of top-class training facilities in the country, he said, "We have some very good training centers in the country built by the government. But we still need some all-weather facilities.
"You have heard coaches wanting to train abroad during harsh summer months. India is such a vast country and in many places weather is mild in summer. So, we need to have training centers to train athletes in all weather conditions," he said.
Sriram, whose 800m national record of 1:45.77 he set in 1976 Montreal Olympics has not been bettered by any fellow countryman in the last 40 years, felt it will be tough for India to get a medal from athletics in the upcoming Rio Games.
"It will be tough for India to get a medal in athletics in Rio. No doubt we are improving but I don't see any Indian athlete winning a medal in Rio," he said.
Sriram, who won gold medals in 1974 and 1978 Asian Games,
also felt that majority of the current lot of Indian athletes lack dedication and hard work.
"Nowadays, you have everything. Infrastructure is not bad as compared to our times. Now there are foreign training and exposure trips, you have foreign coaches and you have good diets.
"We did not have any of these. We did not have corporate investing on training of athletes like what is happening nowadays. But we had a lot of Indians among Asian record holders during our times. Where are the Indians among Asian record holders currently? I feel this is due to lack of dedication and hard work among most of current lot of Indian athletes," said the 67-year-old former middle distance runner.
Sriram, who is now in the selection panel of the national federation, also linked doping at the departmental and age-group levels to this lack of desire to work hard among the current Indian athletes.
"I don't believe in doping. I don't believe to the notion that doping is prevalent in other countries also and so we have to see the menace from that perspective. I did not dope, Milkha Singh or P T Usha did not dope.
"It shows that these athletes want short cut to success without toiling hard. This is what I mean that most of current athletes lack the desire to work hard," he added.
Sriram, however, is upbeat about the proposed athletics league for which the Athletics Federation of India has invited 'Expression of Interest' from interested entities.
The league, if materialised, could see some top international athletes taking part in a franchise-based event on the lines of some of the tournaments being held in the country in other sports.
"It (the league) has the potential to make a difference. Athletics may come up in its profile. But personally I think it should be held in four phases. It can have sprints, long distance, jumps and throws separately in each of the four phases.
"Or it may be that events can be mixed like one or two sprints may be clubbed with jumps or throws so that the interest of the people in the league is there.
