India's reigning Asian Games 400m hurdles champion Joseph Abraham's plan to prepare for the London Olympic Games has run into rough weather.
Six months ago, the 28-year-old had sent his training-cum-competition programme to the Athletic Federation of India, but the file is lost. And, with two months left for the last Olympic qualifying event, the federation's chief coach, Bahadur Singh, has asked him to send the plan again.
"I can race but I cannot fight the system," the hurdler said after winning gold in the Federation Cup meet here on Monday, clocking 49.98 seconds, though he narrowly missed the Olympic qualifying time. The same timing had fetched him gold in the Asian Games at Guangzhou (China) in 2010.
In his plan, the Kerala athlete had said that to peak for London Games, he wanted to race in Europe in May/June. "There should be at least three-four good races close to 49 seconds," he had written in his proposal that was lost in transition from Patiala to New Delhi.
At the World Championships in Osaka in 2007, he had reached the semifinal, clocking 49.51 seconds and setting a national record. Twice in 2009, he clocked sub-50 second timings.
But the chief coach is hardly concerned and says he requires another week to sort out the issue. "We can tell you next week about the progress," said Bahadur Singh.
{{/usCountry}}But the chief coach is hardly concerned and says he requires another week to sort out the issue. "We can tell you next week about the progress," said Bahadur Singh.
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