New Delhi, Jan 15 : The sports ministry has approved the appointment of Belarussian coach Nikolai Snesarev as the middle and long-distance coach of the Indian athletics team. Snesarev has been appointed till the end of September, a period which will coincide with the Tokyo Olympics re-scheduled to take place in July-August, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) informed on Friday. The 72-year-old has been associated with Indian athletics since his first engagement in 2005 and has coached a number of other Indian athletes like Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut. He will be coaching 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, who has already qualified for the Olympics, and other middle and long-distance runners, as they aim to qualify for the Olympic Games. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla hopes the appointment of Snesarev will further improve the performances of Indian middle and long-distance runners. "Avinash Sable wants to train with Nikolai again and we hope this will help him improve further," Sumariwalla said. "Nikolai has had a good record with India and years of experience with our middle and long-distance runners. He has helped athletes like Lalita Babar who finished in top 10 in steeplechase at the 2016 Olympic Games. He has good results with Sudha Singh as well as Avinash Sable who trained with him initially," he added. /IANS