Coaching camp for state athletics team for the upcoming 3rd Northeast Olympic Games 2024 kicked off at Indira Gandhi Stadium with top coaches from the country assigned for the high-performance training.
A press release from the Nagaland Athletics Association (NAA) informed that the athletes for the camp were selected based on their performances during the recently held Nagaland Olympic & Paralympic Games 2024. Brief profile of the coaches deputed by Athletic Federation of India (AFI) for Nagaland state team:
Om Prakash Karhana (Coach for Throws): An Olympian and former Indian National record holder in Shot Put. He has secured gold medal in Asian Championship Guangzhou 2010 and he also represented India in Asian Champion 2009, Asian Indoor Champion 2014, Delhi 2010, Glasgow 2014, Incheon 2014. He is a World Athletics level 2 certified coach. He has produced athlete like Manpreet Kaur who won the bronze medal in Asian Athletics Championship Bangkok. Karhana is presently the member of Athlete Commission under the Indian Olympic Association. Currently he is working under ONGC.
I A Shivanand (Coach for Middle & Long Distance): He was a former Indian athlete who represented India 14 times in international events and won gold in 5000M Asian Championship and silver medal in Asian Championship in 3000M. He has a record of 26 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze medals in the National level competitions. He was also the coach appointed by AFI for Nagaland team during the South Asia Cross Country Championship and 56th National Cross Country Championship held in Nagaland, where Nagaland women team secured the silver medal. He has a vast experience in training national and international athletes. He was also appointed as coach for Maldives team. Presently, he is serving as the Athletic Coach in the Indian Railways Department.
Deepak Dhillon (Coach for Sprints & Hurdle): He is a World Athletics level 2 certified coach. He was former national level sports person. He has produced athlete like Prachi who won the silver medal in Asian Games. Presently, he is serving as Athletic Coach at Delhi Sports University. The Nagaland Athletics has expressed gratefulness to chairman of AFI Planning Committee Dr. Lalit Bhanot and president AFI Dr. Adille Sumariwala, for their constant support to sports and athletics in North East and Nagaland in line with the Government of India’s agenda of giving priority to the North East as per the vision of the prime minister.