New Delhi Mar 28 PTI Contrary to the popular opinion that Bajrang Punias leg defence is a major shortcoming in his game Sujeet Maan the new personal coach of the star grappler says the wrestler looks vulnerable only because of his attacking style and all he needs to do is to convert the moves into points Bajrangs leg defence has been a major talking point in the last three years especially in run up to the Tokyo Games where he won a bronze medal Bajrangs struggle against Japanese nemesis Takuto Otoguro only accentuated the issue His coach Shako Bentinidis also worked on the same but Bajrang 28 never made the desired progress something which irked the national federation and eventually the Georgian was removed from his support staff However Maan who started working with Bajrang from January this year says Bajrangs leg defence is not as weak as it is thought of A lot of people opine that his leg defence is weak but thats not the case Its a style In cricket the aggressive batters go for their shots and in the process they run the risk of losing their wicket In Bajrangs case when he plays attacking game he appears vulnerable in his leg defence Maan told PTI in an interview Its not that we are not working on his leg defence We are trying that even if the rivals get hold of his legs he wriggles out of it with solid defence One of the main reasons for his leg-defence struggle has been linked with his training and competition on the soil dangal in his formative years The wrestlers usually adopt a high stance during dangals but when it comes to competition on the mat the strategy does not work Many traditional wrestling stars like Jassa Patti one of the famous and most successful dangal wrestlers in the country could not succeed on mat struggling to win bouts even in National championships Maan agrees that the training and competition style in early years could be a reason for whatever issues he has in his leg defence On the mat you need to compete more on low and middle stance while in the Dangal the wrestler maintains high stance Habits are difficult to change especially when it becomes muscle memory Maan said he has been a part of the national camp and has observed Bajrangs game whenever he was there He and Bajrang recently watched the wrestlers bouts from the 2019 World Championship 2018 Asian Games the 2021 Asian Championship videos and he is sure that going forward adding more aggression to his style should help him He needs to be aggressive and attack more Attack is the best defence The change he needs to make is he should attack but must not end up losing points or fail to score despite taking the risk If he is managing to grab legs of his opponent he must convert that move into points thats what we are working on Maan who won four Asian Championship medals including a silver in 2004 said Talk about the 2024 Paris Olympics and Maan quickly points that they dont have much time on our hands to prepare But why Asian Championships is approaching and then there is one Ranking Series event In August we have CWG which will be followed by the Asian Games so there is not much time that we have We have short-term targets before the Paris Games This year our main target is Asian Games and if we succeed it would mean that we are at peak Has anything changed in Bajrangs training style since Bentinidis left I have devised a plan for him When Bajrang is not competing he is focussing on heavy training including weights long duration runs power training and endurance training When competition is near we are focussing on speed and bouts The Asian Championship starting April 19 in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia will be Bajrangs first tournament after the Tokyo Games PTI AT AT BS BS

New Delhi Jan 21 PTI Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu can deliver again at the 2024 Paris Games but she will have to be selective in her competitions while preparing for the global showpiece Indias newly-appointed weightlifting High Performance Director Aveenash Pandoo said on Friday The Mauritian who was appointed Indias first High Performance Director HPD for weightlifting until the 2024 Paris Olympics also outlined his roadmap Going forward Mirabai will have to be very selective while choosing competitions because there is also another three years adding on to her age Pandoo said during a virtual press conference facilitated by Sports Authority of India Its not easy Eko Yuli Irawan of Indonesia is a four-time Olympic medallist he has proved it can be done with a very selective and intelligent way of preparing He said Chanus coach Vijay Sharma will be able to put together a plan in that regard They have a very good relationship I fully trust it will happen So yes Im confident Mirabai will further deliver in Paris Olympics Pandoo said The 46-year-old said his main focus will be towards developing youth and junior programmes My clear roadmap that has been put to me by SAI will be to get involved in youth and junior development programmes Pandoo who played a major role in helping two weightlifters win medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics during his tenure as HPD in Indonesia said talent development identification will be his initial focus adding that he will take up an athlete-centric approach I intend to look very strongly into a proper roadmap for Indian weightlifting with regards to talent identification programme and how we can improve on that He will look after the coaching education programme while also conducting a series of webinars or seminars with coaches and athletes I dont think India lacks equipment or coaches We have to look at the coaching education This is my next pillar I will be very strongly leading that coaching education programme Talking about the trend of athletes competing in selective tournaments Pandoo said the the juniors should compete more regularly High level athletes can be selective on their competitions But there are also qualification competitions where the athletes have to participate So coaches have to take that into account But if we are talking about the youth and junior programme we have to compete more regularly so that the athletes can see where they are improving However with the COVID-19 affecting the domestic and international calendar Pandoo said coaches will need to get innovative in order to keep the athletes motivated This is actually a new life that we have now to get used to it This is where the coaches creative instinct have to come in to make these kind of areas happen where the athletes know how to push themselves We can have some form of online competition maybe email competitions between provinces where the athletes can foster that development of competing Weightlifting has been marred by escalating number of doping cases Asked if the sport can exist without doping Pandoo said Yes Its simple with a good development programme a good education programme to the athletes federation coaches and those involved with the sport yes it is very possible China is the powerhouse in the sport and Pandoo believes India too can replicate their neighbours success by asking the right questions and taking corrective measures They China have a very big talent pool They have huge funding and do extensive research as well Maybe if we India can start putting something on a smaller scale we can develop India is not a small population So why are we having for example the same athletes in the team for more than 10 years Are we doing enough in terms of talent RD programme and talent development Maybe these are the questions we will have to ask and start looking at how we can better develop the talent pool for India PTI APA PDS PDS

New Delhi [India], September 6 (ANI): India's Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel might have won silver in the Paralympics but the para table tennis star isn't satisfied with her performance and wants to win gold in Paris 2024.