UK experts help coaches boost Indian sports performance

Coaches and sports scientists from India have teamed up with experts at Britain's University of Birmingham to learn how their athletes can boost their performance, following Team GB's outstanding Olympic success.

A 25-member team of coaches and sports scientists from India reached here on Saturday, and today commenced their two-week-long programme, a university spokesman told PTI.

The group includes 'India's fastest man' and 100 metres national record holder Anil Kumar Prakash, now an athletics coach, and is led by Rajdeep Kaur Talwar, Dean of Faculty of Sports Sciences at National Institute of Sports, Patiala.

Experts from the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences and University Birmingham Sport have put together a comprehensive programme for the visitors.

The university has seen student Lily Owsley and alumna Sophie Bray win gold in the women's hockey, whilst alumnus James Rodwell scooped silver with the Rugby Sevens – part of Team GB's record haul of 67 medals in Rio.

The Indian group includes coaches from athletics, hockey, 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 Martin Toms' discussions with the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and SAI about how the university could help the country's athletes boost their performance.

"We're delighted to welcome our sporting guests to Birmingham. Everyone is looking forward to sharing our expertise with them and learning from their wealth of experience," said Toms, Senior Lecturer in Sport Pedagogy in the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences.

The two-week programme will see visits to Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Birmingham City FC and the Football Association HQ at St George's Park, Burton-on-Trent.

"The UK and India have a long history of sharing expertise to our mutual benefit... 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," said Lord Bilimoria, the university's Chancellor and the first Indian-born Chancellor of a Russell Group University in the UK.

Prakash, who competed in the Sydney and Athens Olympics, said: "I'm looking forward to returning to India equipped with knowledge from Birmingham that will help to improve the performance of the young athletes I am coaching, as we prepare for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo."