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Boxing federation to hire foreign coach for elite women's team before Asian Games
The women’s elite team is without a foreign coach since the exit of Raffaele Bergamasco, who guided Lovlina Borgohain to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
India’s elite women boxers will soon have a foreign coach to guide them in a busy calendar year, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh said on Wednesday.
The women’s elite team is without a foreign coach since the exit of Raffaele Bergamasco, who guided Lovlina Borgohain to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The women have three major competitions this year — World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. Currently, Bhaskar Bhatt is the chief coach of the women's team.
“We are in the process of selecting a foreign coach for elite women and we will engage him before the Asian Games. We hope to have him as early as April,” said Singh on the sidelines of a function to felicitate 39 medallists of Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships held in Jordan.
Singh also said High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva, who has been retained till the 2024 Olympics, will have a different role. He will look after an “empowered training programme” focussed on the overall development of the game.
“Earlier HPD would focus only on the elite category but now he has to focus on youth, junior and sub-junior categories and run an empowered training programme. He will also oversee the competition structure because the existing structure is not throwing up enough boxers for us. He will oversee all the programmes — coaching, physiotherapy, sports science etc. There will be coaches under him. We are also hiring foreign coaches for youth and junior categories as well,” Singh said.
“There will also be more competitions like Open Championships at national, state and district levels, besides weekend fight nights for top boxers to keep the fans and boxers interested.”
Asked whether the men’s elite team will also have a foreign coach as Nieva will have more responsibilities, he said the federation will hire one if needed.
Indian boxers returned with15 gold, 10 silver, and 14 bronze medals from the Asian, Youth and Junior Boxing meet. BFI has already advertised for the post of foreign coaches for youth and junior teams.
“We need to convert this success to the junior and youth level in the elite category. We have done exceptionally well in the elite category what we had done four years ago but we can do a lot better. We have Asian Games, CWG and other events this year. The focus is also on the 2024 Paris Olympics. We are among the top 10 countries in the world but this transition needs to happen well. We will get experts from overseas, strength and conditioning trainers and focus on nutrition, sports science and psychology because very often it is the mind where we lose. Our boxers have the skills.”
