da supremo： Andrew Leipus, India’s physiotherapist, has asked to be relieved of his day-to-day duties with the national team after the home series against South Africa
Anand Vasu17-Aug-2005
Andrew Leipus: ending a five-year association with the India side© Getty Images
Andrew Leipus, India’s physiotherapist, has asked to be relieved of hisday-to-day duties with the national team after the home series againstSouth Africa, which ends on Dec 2. Leipus, who has been with the Indianteam since late 1999, wants to spend more time with his family, and alsowants to improve his professional qualifications by studying.The Australian-born Leipus, 34, was recently offered a contract until2007, but it is understood that he has not yet signed that, and has made acounter-proposal wherein he would still be involved with the team, butwould play second fiddle to someone else who did the job on a morehands-on basis.Leipus has suggested that the load on the physio is increasing all thetime, and feels that two professionals are needed to do the jobefficiently. In his letter to the Indian Board he has suggested that JohnGloster, the former Bangladesh physio, be considered for the post he wouldbe vacating. Gloster, who has also worked with Surrey in the past, spentabout two years as the physio of the Bangladesh team, but left them onOctober 9 when his contract ran out.However, Leipus does not want to make a clean break from his duties withIndia, and hopes to be involved occasionally in the future. A sourcewithin the Indian team confirmed that Leipus has always meant to take timeoff from his job to pursue further studies to enhance his professionalqualifications. However, it had been expected that he would take a breakat the end of the current season, and not immediately after the homeseries against South Africa.Leipus is likely to meet with board officials soon to discuss the matter.He succeeded Andrew Kokinos as India’s physiotherapist, after beingrecommended for the post by Dr Mark Ferguson, the South African surgeonwho treated Javagal Srinath.