E-Paper
Army Sports Institute, Pune, at the forefront of India’s sports development
Tokyo Olympian Neeraj Chopra, gold medallist in the javelin throw, trained at ASI during the initial years of his career
Thirty-four Olympians, 22 Commonwealth Games’ medallists, and 21 Asian Games’ medallists, apart from six medallists at international youth meets – this is what the Army Sports Institute (ASI) has given to Indian sports over the last 21 years.
Tokyo Olympian Neeraj Chopra, gold medallist in the javelin throw, trained at ASI during the initial years of his career.
Since its inception in July 1, 2001, ASI has been the first choice for Indian athletes to train at, ahead of any multi-national sport event.
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, India’s boxing contingent trained at the centre, while archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das also trained at the ASI.
The Indian Boxing Federation of India shifted the national camp to Pune from Delhi after a surge of Covid-19 cases in the national capital in May.
At that time, BFI secretary Hemanta Kalita had said, “Considering the safety of boxers, coaches and support staff, we have created a training plan in separate clusters to minimise the risk. These are tough times, we have to be careful, but we also have a job at hand.”
Pune was also hit badly by the second Covid wave, but ASI held the camp successfully,” said an ASI coach, requesting anonymity.
“We were all ready with our preparation to keep Covid away from ASI and none of the Olympic-bound athletes faced any problem during their training.
ASI provides world class facilities for Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Diving, Wrestling, Weightlifting and Fencing. For each discipline we have a batch of separate coaches.The sports science faculty is a key attraction for athletes started when began its ‘Mission Olympics’ programme. The faculty is helping to generate scientific data about athletes’ performances which has made a big difference,” added the coach.
The world class facility is helping athletes to produce results on the international stage.
Avinash Sable, steeplechase runner who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, said, “ASI is one of best facilities in the country. It is due to the Army I was able to identify my talent. Easy access to grounds and other training facilities makes it more comfortable to stay at ASI.”
Sable did not qualify for the final, although he set a new national record with a timing of 8:18:12 improving his personal best from 8:20:20.
“Before coming up with these facilities, the Army researched what other countries are providing to their athletes and then planned a complete structure. That is why it produces results for the country,” added the coach.
31 Olympians from defence services who trained at ASI
Archery
Subedar Tarundeep Rai, VSM - Recurve 2004
Subedar Majhi Sawaiyan, VSM - Recurve 2004
Subedar Tarundeep Rai, VSM - Recurve 2012
Subedar Tarundeep Rai, VSM - Recurve 2020
Havaldar Pravin Jadhav - Recurve 2020
Athletics
Subedar Surender Singh - 10000M 2008
Subedar Irfan KT – 20km walk - 2012
Subedar Basant Bahadur Rana – 50km walk 2012
Subedar Ram Singh Yadav - Marathon 2012
Subedar Sandeep Kumar – 50km walk 2016
Subedar Ganpathy K – 50km walk 2016
Subedar Gopi T - Marathon 2016
Subedar Nitender Singh Rawat - Marathon 2016
Subedar Kheta Ram - Marathon 2016
Subedar Jinson Johnson - 800M 2016
Subedar Arokia Rajiv - 4 x 400 relay 2016
Subedar Kunhu Md 4 x 400 relay 2016
Subedar Neeraj Chopra Javelin - 2020 (gold medal)
Subedar Avinash Sable 3000M S/C 2020
Subedar Irfan KT – 20km walk 2020
Subedar Sandeep Kumar – 20km walk 2020
GDR Rahul 20km walk - 2020
Havaldar Gurpreet Singh 50km walk 2020
Subedar Arokia Rajiv 4 x 400M mixed relay 2020
Boxing
Subedar L Debendro Singh, VSM – 49kg 2012 (Bronze)
Subedar Amit, VSM 52kg 2020
Subedar Manish Kaushik 63kg 2020
Subedar Maj Satish Kumar +91kg 2020
Weightlifting
Subedar Ravi Kumar, VSM 69kg 2012
Wrestling
Subedar Ravinder Khatri 85kg (GR) 2016
Subedar Deepak Punia 86kg (FS) 2020
