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Says Indian
coaches have been ignored for national awards despite producing medal-winning
players
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Chennai(Agencies): Grandmaster
RB Ramesh, who recently resigned as chief selector of the All India Chess
Federation, on Saturday lamented the lack of recognition of domestic coaches
from the government, saying they have been ignored for national awards despite
producing medal-winning players.
Ramesh, a Chennai-based coach,
counts young prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, his sister Vaishali, national champion
Aravindh Chithambaram and Karthikeyan Murali among his wards.
He resigned as chief selector
of the AICF on Tuesday over alleged interference by warring officials of rival
factions.
"Regarding awards for
being coach of Indian team or Indian players from Central government, less said
the better. Last 15 years or so, I (and most other Indian coaches barring few)
have not received ANY award from Central government for winning medals or
producing talents," he said in a series of tweets.
"ZERO award from Central
Government for following achievements in 15 years: 1. World youth medals = 34
2. Asian youth medals = 40 3. Commonwealth medals = 23 4. National titles =36
5. Asian Seniors medals = 5 6. Bronze medal in Chess Olympiad IS there a sports
policy?" he asked.
Ramesh criticised the earlier
system of Indian coaches getting lesser remuneration than their foreign
counterparts which the Sports Ministry decided to end recently. The ministry
has recently lifted the Rs 2 lakh salary cap of Indian coaches so as to bring
them at par with their foreign counterparts.
"The Indian system looks
down upon Indian coaches for most part. Foreign coaches mean 5 to 10 times more
fee will be paid, forget about competency of coaches or results produced for
the country. Slave mentality due to centuries under colonialism still prevalent
among many still," he said in another tweet.
"Can you guess the fee
that was paid per day for being Coach of Indian Chess team for official events
like Olympiad, World Team Championship, Asian team Championships? No one would
believe it. Things got slightly better eventually, though nowhere near what it
should be," Ramesh further wrote.
In this regard, he said,
"Even as recent as last year, for training same group of Indian junior and
sub-junior players, I was paid probably 1/10th of what a 'foreign coach' was paid
if I am not mistaken for doing the same job. I did one camp and refused to do
the next one for same reason."
Ramesh said a lucrative offer
came his way last year to coach Canadian players for the World Youth
Championship in Mumbai, but he refused and continued to train the Indian team
despite a huge disparity in fees.
"I was offered a
lucrative offer to work with few Canadian players for World Youth Championship
at Mumbai last year & refused it to be coach for Indian team despite huge
(dis) parity in fees where we won many medals. Should Indian coaches continue
to take this approach in future too?" he asked.
"Many times, players in
Indian contingent would ask me why am I even coming with the team for such
small fee? We were slowly building a system, proving Indians are in no way less
competent as far as training goes. Even now, Indian talent in chess training is
largely underutilised," he added.
He said unless the Sports
Ministry starts listening to stakeholders who are working on the ground,
nothing will change in Indian chess.
"Unless the Ministry of
Sports starts listening to stakeholders who are working on the ground and
making a real difference, instead of Officials and bureaucrats who have their
own axe to grind, nothing will change for better or it will take too much
time..." Ramesh said.
Ramesh had quit as chief selector of AICF over
alleged interference in selection of team for the upcoming Online Olympiad. The
national chess body is split into two factions – one headed by president PR
Venketrama Raja and the other by secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan, who are at
loggerheads over various issues. PTI
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