Malayalee athlete threatens to pull out from Rio Olympics team

 National record holder in the triple jump, Renjith Maheshwary has threatened to pull out from the Rio Olympics team if his coach was not included in the Indian contingent.

 The presence of coach Nishad Kumar is necessary to bring out the best in him, says Maheswary.  He also blamed it on the absence of coach  for his poor performance in the  2008 Beijing Olympics as well as in 2012 London Olympics. Renjith lashed out at the officials saying they behaved as if they held a grudge against him. Pointing out that other trainers are accompanying athletes, he alleged double standard by officials in denying his coach a berth in the Olympic contingent.  

Qualifying for the Rio Olympics, Maheswari made a new Indian record of 17.30m in the Indian Grand Prix meet held in Bengaluru surpassing the Olympic qualification mark of 16.85 m on 11 July 2016. The jump also took him to the third spot in the current world rankings behind Americans Christian Taylor (17.76) and Will Claye (17.65).