New Delhi, Nov. 14: India’s Russian-born gymnastics foreign expert Vladimir Chertkov ended his tenure on a sour note, leaving the team on the opening day of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou. Involved in a row over the opening ceremony, the miffed coach returned here on the day saying “he was appalled by the treatment meted out to him”.
“An official, he was not the Games’ chef-de-mission Abhay Singh Chautala, came up to me and said that I was not good enough take part in the opening ceremony of the Asian Games. I was humiliated in front of my team,” Chertkov told this paper on Sunday.
The coach added that the Gymnastics Federation of India had stopped acknowledging his presence since the Delhi Commonwealth Games. “The federation was never happy with my out-spoken ways. But my duty was to the athletes and their parents, so I decided to continue,” the coach, who will be returning to Chicago after his contract expires in two weeks’ time, said.
Chertkov blamed the Indian bureaucracy for the apathy of the national team.
“In one year’s time I have managed to bring back two CWG medals. The talent is there in the team and it needs to be nurtured. The bureaucrats and the politicians call all the shots in the Indian federations. In 60 years before this, they weren’t able to win a single medal,” he added.