&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "CoE chief VVS Laxman explains why BCCI is unable to hire a Sports Science and Medicine head")
Indian cricket team's inury crisis has brought serious attention towards the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, headed by former batter VVS Laxman. Multiple players have been injured in the recent past with the latest being Sai Sudharsan, who has been withdrawn from upcoming Sri Lanka Test tour. Sai, along with Bumrah, was named in the Indian squad but both failed to recover in time, prompting their withdrawl. Laxman, meanwhile, has defended CoE's role and revealed that the centre is facing difficulties in hiring a new Sports Science and Medicine (SSM) head, leading to these issues. BCCI is one of the richest boards in the world then why it is hard for them to hire a SSM head?
Why BCCI is unable to hire a SSM head for CoE?
Laxman spoke at length about the CoE's role in players' injury management and recovery but shared that it is hard to do so without a Sports Science and Medicine (SSM) head. The former batter cited potential candidates backing off at the last moment afte being selected, for vairous reasons including family and moving to Bengaluru.
"After Nitin left, we did not get anyone who can fill in that position. We had Andrew Leipus, everything was agreed upon, in fact, Devajit had two or three meetings with him but suddenly Andrew backed off at the last moment citing family reasons. We conducted a full-fledged interview process where we had Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, Dr. Ashish Soni, Dr. Rohan Khavte and myself, we shortlisted five candidates and number one was an Australian. After selecting him, suddenly he backed out saying he cannot move to Bengaluru," Laxman said.
"Another professional (who we selected) was head of sports science at All Blacks (New Zealand rugby team). We engaged with him and he almost agreed but at the last moment he too backed off," he added.
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What does a Sports Science and Medicine head do?
A SSM head is responsible for players' injury, workload, and recovery management. WION had recently spoken to strength and conditioning expert Jivesh Bali who had also highlighted 'recovery' as the main reason for frequent injuries among players.
"In India, the athletes are suffering from this work overload. The athletes nowadays are being over-trained by the coaches you can say or by the management or by the federation so the recovery is one thing that is the main issue in re-occurring those injuries which athletes are going through," Bali had said.
