Bajrang Punia has decided to part ways with his personal coach Georgian Shako Bentinidis post the World Wrestling Championships. With just nine months left for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Punia has made up his mind to work with a new coach, the Wrestling Federation of India said.

Punia was a favourite to win the 65kg gold at the World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, but returned with a bronze. His loss to Kazakh Daulet Niyazbekov in the semi-finals made the federation pose some tough questions about his preparations with personal coach Bentinidis. Punia had been training away from the national camp with Bentinidis and charting his own programme for the last 18 months.

Post the World Championships, WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had discussions with Bentinidis on Punia’s performance and concluded that the wrestler had not shown marked improvement. Punia’s leg defence has been a weak area and that had cost him the World Championship title last year against young Japanese Takuto Otoguro in Budapest. It continued to be a problem area during this year’s World Championships also. “We asked him (Bentinidis) what has Punia learned as his defence was still weak,” Tomar said.

Punia, himself, refused to comment on the development. “The picture will be clear in the next few days. It will be inappropriate to say anything now. I have full faith in the federation. We will take the best decision in the interest of the country,” Punia was quoted as saying in WrestlingTV.

JSW Sports, which hired Bentinidis as Punia’s personal coach, said it was not aware of any development with regards to Punia hiring another coach.

“I don’t know where it is coming from but he is not out. I have not got any clarity from the federation on whether they want a change or not,” said Manisha Malhotra, Head of Sports Excellence and Scouting at JSW Sports.

There has been a tussle going on for sometime with some top wrestlers working with their personal coaches. The WFI wants all wrestlers to come under one umbrella and train at the national camp. The federation announced annual central contracts for wrestlers after roping in Tata Motors as sponsors last year.