The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Tuesday appointed three foreign coaches and a High Performance Director with an eye on the upcoming Asian Games 2026 and LA 2028 Olympics.
Georgia’s Emzarios Bentinidis (freestyle), Gogi Koguashvili (Greco-Roman) and Japan’s Kosei Akaishi (women’s wrestling) have been appointed as specialist coaches, while American Ian Butler has been named the High Performance Director (HPD).
The new-look coaching team was finalised after a meeting of candidates with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Indian coaches. They are expected to join the national camps on May 1.
Emzarios Bentinidis has worked closely with several Indian wrestlers in the past, including Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia, Jitender and Sandeep Mann.
Koguashvili is a former Greco-Roman world champion and medallist, while Kosei Akaishi is a two-time Olympic medallist.
Meanwhile, HPD Ian Butler brings prior experience in high-performance systems and will focus on planning, athlete monitoring, and aligning coaching inputs with competition outcomes.
He will move between the men’s and women’s national camps in Lucknow and Delhi, respectively, to ensure smooth coordination between foreign and Indian coaches.
This is the first time since 2019-20 that India will have a full panel of foreign wrestling coaches.
The Indian wrestling squad returned with 17 medals – two gold, six silver and nine bronze – from the Asian Championships earlier this month.
India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers finished with five medals, while the women’s contingent secured five and the men clinched seven at the continental meet.
India’s new-look coaching team’s first big global event will be the Asian Games 2026, which will begin in Aichi–Nagoya, Japan, on September 19.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/indian-wrestlers-men-women-freestyle-greeco-roman-foreign-coaches-panel
