The science of training an athlete’s mind and body is the key: Tapan Panigrahi

Pune-based swimming coach Tapan Kumar Panigrahi, who received the Dronacharya award on November 13, has urged city coaches to include sports science in their physical training schedule, as this will play an important role in the overall training of an athlete

PUNE Pune-based swimming coach Tapan Kumar Panigrahi, who received the Dronacharya award on November 13, has urged city coaches to include sports science in their physical training schedule, as this will play an important role in the overall training of an athlete.

Dronacharya award winner swimming coach Tapan Panigrahi at a press conference at PUWJ in Pune, on Thursday. Panigrahi has urged city coaches to include sports science in their physical training schedule, as this will play an important role in the overall training of an athlete. (RAVINDRA JOSHI/HT)

“Scientific training should be started at a young age. The right age to introduce this training in an athlete’s daily schedule is from 12 to 14 years. The results, however, will be seen in the future,” says Panigrahi.

Panigrahi, till date, he has trained 250 national level swimmers and 60 international swimmers. He has also trained para swimmers. “I tell the athletes about the characteristics required to compete in sporting events. Once they are aware, they prepare their body in a better way,” says Panigrahi.

Coaching para swimmers

Para swimmer Suyash Jadhav who was a medal prospect for India at the Tokyo Paralympics has been trained by Panigrahi, however, due to health issues, Jadhav could not give his best performance at the event. “He (Suyash) and his father, both were not well for 12 days in Tokyo and had a mild fever. I was expecting him to win a bronze medal. I hope that he wins a medal in the 2024 games,” added Panigrahi.

India’s Olympic swimming medal hopes

Panigrahi feels that Indian swimmers are falling short and are not performing well at the Olympics. “Our swimmers are winning medals at international events, but when it comes to the Olympics, we are falling a short in the qualifying rounds. The performance has improved, let’s hope to see more swimmers qualify for 2024 Olympics,” added Panigrahi. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, three swimmers – Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj and Manna Patel qualified for the games.