Javelin throw coach Uwe Hohn out, AFI says it is hiring two new coaches
Jaipur(PTI): The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Monday announced the end of its association with national chief javelin coach Uwe Hohn, saying it is "not happy" with his performance and will hire two new foreign coaches soon.
The contract of the 59-year-old German, a former world record holder, was valid until the end of the Tokyo Olympics.
"We are bringing two more coaches and we are changing Uwe Hohn as we are not happy with his performance. We are looking for a foreign coach for Toor (shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor)," said AFI president Adille Sumariwalla.
Sumariwalla was speaking during a press conference at the end of a two-day executive council meeting of the federation that was also attended by AFI planning committee chairman Lalit K Bhanot and vice-president Anju Bobby George.
Hohn was appointed as chief coach in November 2017 for one year to train the likes of Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and two other Tokyo Olympians in Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani.
Chopra was under his tutelage during the Commonwealth and Asian Games in 2018 before another German Klaus Bartonietz took up that role.
Hohn had kicked up quite a storm before the Olympics by claiming that he had been blackmailed into accepting his contract by the Sports Authority of India and AFI. Both the bodies had rejected the charge.
A host of issues were discussed in detail during the meeting here, including redesigning the AFI's junior (grassroot development) programme, introduction of build-up tournaments for top international events such as the world championships and the Olympics and radically refurbishing its coaching programme, especially for the juniors.
"To reach the next level, we have to redesign the junior programme, how to do talent identification better to improve it further, we held discussions with athletes and coaches, both former and present athletes from all states," Sumariwalla said.
One of the conclusions of the meeting was that the athletes need more tournaments in the run-up to marquee global events.
"Athletes need more competitions, this is mainly for seniors to prepare for larger competitions. Next year we have a tight calendar -- with the World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
"Athletes need competition in preparatory period so that their bodies remain in good nick. So the plan is to introduce build-up competitions at the zonal level so that athletes don't have to travel far."
Going by what the AFI said, the coach education programme is also set to see a complete overhaul in the coming times, with the introduction of a certification course involving the sport's global governing body, World Athletics.
"We have decided to bring in foreign caches in junior too to strengthen their foundation and basics.
"Apart from inter-district, we have to identify pockets in every states, how to bring them, what should be the parameters...Also, there will be an open national event for the next five years in Jamshedpur."
"We need experienced coaches who have produced world champions and Olympic champions, with all the latest knowledge. Our coaches will also work alongside the foreign coaches.
"In last one year we have already developed 650 coaches and 1500 in pre level across various levels.
On the upgradation of the coaching programme, he added, "We will start with grassroot as once foundation is strong, elite will automatically get stronger.
"This is a World Athletics course and they will award the certificates. Those coaches are for our identified events -- 400m, walk, javelin, long jump and triple jump.
"There will be a different set of coaches for junior and senior athletes. We have recently identified Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana."
During the meeting, the AFI brass analysed the areas where it did well and also tried to identify the ons where it didn't and the reasons for it.
"A coaching education programme has started, we need at least 5000 level one coaches if we wish to cover 500 district.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
