Coaches and sports scientists from India have teamed up with experts at the University of Birmingham to learn how their athletes can boost their performance, following Team GB’s outstanding Olympic success.
The 25-strong party includes ‘India’s fastest man’ 100 metres national record holder and former Olympic athlete Anil Kumar Prakash, now an athletics coach. The group will spend two weeks exploring how they can combine coaching and sports science techniques.
Experts from the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences and University Birmingham Sport have put together a comprehensive programme for the visitors.
The group includes coaches from a range of sports including athletics, volleyball, kabaddi, swimming and gymnastics. Indian sports scientists from a range of disciplines including nutrition, sports medicine and physiology have travelled to Birmingham.
Put together by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the group’s arrival in Birmingham follows Dr Martin Toms’ discussions with the Indian Government’s Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and SAI about how the University of Birmingham could help the country’s athletes boost their performance.
Lord Bilimoria, Chancellor of the University of Birmingham and the first Indian-born Chancellor of a Russell Group University in the UK, said: “Following team GB’s phenomenal success in the Rio 2016 Olympics, where Britain has emphatically shown that it is it is one of the world’s top sporting nations, and with the University of Birmingham’s pedigree as one of the top sports universities in the UK, there is no better time for this interaction with Indian coaches to take place.
“It is wonderful to hear that the University of Birmingham is working with India’s best coaches to boost athletes’ performance. The UK and India have a long history of sharing expertise to our mutual benefit and I am pleased to see Birmingham continuing this tradition. India is a country with undoubted sporting talent, and I am hopeful that this initiative will be instrumental in helping Indian athletes realise their full potential in future sporting events.”
Anil Kumar Prakash, who competed in the Sydney and Athens Olympics, said: “I’m looking forward to returning to India equipped with knowledge that will help to improve the performance of the young athletes I am coaching, as we prepare for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo.”
Hockey coach Piyush Kumar Dubey said: “Indian hockey has a glorious history and our performances are improving. I hope the experts at Birmingham will help us achieve our goal of winning hockey medals at future Olympics.”
