Patiala: India’s middle and long-distance coach Nikolai Snesarev from Belarus was found dead in his hostel room at the National Institute of Sports on Friday, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) informed.
Snesarev had returned to India after a gap of two years to be here till the end of September. The dead body of the 72-year-old was sent to a government hospital for post mortem.
Revealing details of what happened, AFI President Adille Sumariwalla told news agency PTI that “He had come to NIS for the Indian Grand Prix 3 (from his Bengaluru base) held today. But when he did not turn up for the meet, the coaches checked for him in the evening and his room was found locked from inside”.
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“When the door was broken, he was found lying on his bed. The Sports Authority of India doctor at the NIS declared him dead and the ED (team) of the SAI has referred the body to the government hospital for post mortem,” he said.
“We don’t know the cause of death. We will know it later after post mortem,” he informed.
Snesarev was coaching 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable who qualified for the Olympics, and other middle and long-distance runners as they prepare to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
He had quit as Indian athletics’ long and middle distance coach in February 2019 after Sable opted to train under Army coach Amrish Kumar instead.
His contract then was extended by a year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the end of the Olympics.
Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports Kiren Rijiju gave his condolences by tweeting, "I'm deeply saddened to learn about the sad demise of middle and long distance running coach Nikolai Snesarev. He has been a great coach and helped many medal winners during his association with India since 2005".
Details about the cause of death are awaited.