'India now have a few star athletes'

The likes of KM Binu and JJ Shobha gave stellar performances at Athens, says Yuriy Ogorodnik, one of the foreign coaches with the Indian athletics squad.

After witnessing some stellar performances at the Athens Olympic Stadium by Anju B George, KM Binu, the women's 4x400 relay and JJ Shobha, Yuriy Ogorodnik, one of the foreign coaches associated with the Indian athletics squad, is convinced that India now has a few stars to be proud about.

"Our performance was not bad nor very good. But the relay team, Binu and Anju produced good results. India now have 4-5 star athletes in Anju, Binu, Sobha, Manjit Kaur and Chitra K Soman. The only problem is that they do not have enough international experience," said Ogorodnik, a sprints coach with the erstwhile USSR in the '80s, after arriving with a batch of athletes here last night.

The Ukrainian said the competition on an Olympic stage was totally different from the challenges faced at the Asian Grand Prix meets or even at the Asian Games.