New Delhi: Ukrainian track and field coach Yuri Ogrodonik, who was sacked by the government after the doping scandal in 2011, is likely to return to the country to prepare Indian athletes for 2016 Rio Olympics after his name was cleared “in principle” by the sports ministry recently.
Ogrodonik’s contract was terminated in July 2011 after six top Indian athletes, including 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games 4x400m relay gold-winning team members Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur, tested positive for a banned steroid.
It is learnt that 77-year-old Ogrodonik’s name has been cleared by the Sports Secretary in a meeting of officials from the ministry and Athletics Federation of India on January 5 and 12.
“The Sports Ministry has in principle agreed to Yuri Ogrodonik’s name, though it is yet to give the final sanction,” a source told PTI.
AFI said that Ogrodonik has not been blamed for the 2011 doping scandal neither by the NADA Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel nor by the NADA Anti-Doping Appeals Panel, so it has decided to bring back the top-notch coach to train the athletes for the Rio Games.
“We think the women’s 4x400m relay team is within the striking distance of winning a medal in Rio Olympics. So we have made a request to the Sports Ministry to bring back Yuri Ogrodonik. We have made a presentation to the ministry and it is now up to them to take a decision on it,” AFI Chief Operating Officer Manish Kumar said.
“The athletes have requested the AFI to bring him back. Moreover, there was no negative comment from both panels of the NADA on Ogrodonik. We have to look forward to 2016 Rio and try to get a medal by hiring him,” he added.
The AFI has also proposed a salary of USD 7,000 per month, a hike of more than USD 1,000 than the Ukrainian last got before his departure from India in 2011.
When contacted Sports Secretary Ajit Sharan said that he would not like to comment till the final sanction is made.
“I can’t say anything on that matter till his (Ogrodonik’s) name is finally sanctioned,” Sharan said.
Ogrodonik was sacked by the then sports minister Ajay Maken after six of his wards flunked dope tests in 2011 in one of the worst doping scandals in Indian athletics.
The athletes were handed a lenient one-year ban by the NADA Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel instead of the maximum two-year sanction on the ground that they had not taken the banned drug intentionally.
The decision was upheld by the NADA Anti-Doping Appeals Panel.
On appeal by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland, handed a two-year ban on the athletes.
They came out of the ban in 2013. (PTI)
