Bhubaneswar: For an Indian athletics coach, moving abroad to take charge of a national team is still relatively uncommon. For Mohamed Azarudeen, however, the decision to join Malaysia as the head coach for middle- and long-distance running was less about leaving India and more about looking for a new challenge.The 32-year-old from Ooty began coaching at the age of 21, working primarily with middle- and long-distance runners. Among the athletes he has trained is Sreekiran Nandakumar, the first Indian 800m runner to qualify for the Youth Olympics.But Azarudeen felt his opportunities had become limited after spending the past few years with the national setup in Bengaluru. So, when the opportunity to work with Malaysia came along, he saw it as the right moment to move on.“Challenges. That is the main thing — I have to challenge myself. I just want to find challenges and new opportunities,” said Azarudeen, who joined the post six months ago and is based in Kuala Lumpur.“I found myself in a lower position where the opportunities were very limited for us. Other coaches would be there, and we did not have the right opportunity to handle the national team. So, I just decided to move on.”The move has given him an opportunity to take the experience he gained in India and try to implement it in a different environment. Malaysia, he acknowledged, does not have the same depth of talent as India, but he sees considerable scope for development.“The sprinters are already set. They are already there. Talent identification right now is very limited. My biggest task is to find talent in the middle and long-distance events and the 400m group,” he said.On Saturday, at the Continental Tour Silver meet here, one of his pupils, Umar Osman, did reasonably well in men’s 400m, coming in sixth ahead of India’s Jay Kumar, Vikrant Panchal and Amoj Jacob in the overall list.His work with Malaysia, however, has already brought him back to India. He is currently based at SAI centre in Thiruvananthapuram, where he is conducting a month-long training camp with the Malaysian athletes ahead of the Asian Games. The team will also compete in a few events in India during the stint.For Azarudeen, who was also a junior national medallist, the move is significant beyond his own career. He believes the willingness of foreign countries to employ Indian coaches is an indication that Indian athletics is gradually earning recognition for its coaching expertise.“India has a lot of potential athletes. But we hire foreign coaches, and the opportunities given to Indian coaches are very limited. We are just working as assistant coaches to the foreign coaches,” he said.The move is also the culmination of a coaching journey that began when he was just 21. He currently holds World Athletics Level 1, 2 and 3 coaching qualifications, a Level 1 lecturer certification and an NIS diploma in sports coaching, along with specialised qualifications in strength and conditioning and middle- and long-distance coaching.“Not only performance, but education also drives me,” he said.Moreover, Azarudeen believes there is considerable room for growth in middle- and long-distance running across Asia.“Not only India, Asian countries are developing a lot in middle- and long-distance running. But the right opportunities and the right training methods still have to be adopted,” he said.For now, though, his focus is on the challenge in front of him — helping Malaysia build a stronger middle- and long-distance programme while, in the process, taking another step forward in the journey of Indian coaching.
