Paris Olympics: India stare at boxing crisis after Bernard Dunne's resignation
BFI will quickly need to decide on the future course with the last Olympic qualifiers just two months away in Thailand from May 23.
Four months before the Paris Olympics, Indian boxing is staring at a crisis with high-performance director Bernard Dunne resigning from his position following the team's disastrous show at the Olympic qualifiers in Italy.
India failed to win a single quota from Busto Arsizio, Italy, with eight boxers crashing out in opening rounds. Dunne, who did not return to India with the team, sent his resignation to Boxing Federation of India.
"We have received his resignation letter and we have called an executive committee meeting on Friday to take a stock of the situation," said Boxing Federation India secretary general Hemanta Kalita.
The BFI top brass was unhappy with Dunne's way of functioning. The Irishman changed the selection policy, bringing in an evaluation process in the national camp. That did not go down well with BFI. The final straw was the performance in Italy.
Foreign coach Dmitry Dmitruk, who was brought by Bernard, is in India currently and his fate hangs in the balance. BFI will quickly need to decide on the future course with the last Olympic qualifiers just two months away in Thailand from May 23.
In such a short time, it will not be possible to hire foreign coaches, BFI therefore will have to fall back upon trusted coaches at home.
There is some talk that BFI might recall coach Bhaskar Bhatt for the women's team. Bhatt, who was head coach of women's team till June last year, is currently SAI HPD of boxing in NCOE Rohtak. He reportedly had differences with Dunne over training and selection process of the team, following which he left.
The men's team head coach CA Kuttapa has been there for a long time along with Dharmendra Pradhan. "We will look at all the options before finalising," said a BFI member.
The biggest stumbling block may be the selection policy. Since 2023, Indian teams have been picked through evaluation process -- be it Asian Games or world championships. No selection trials were held and boxers have also knocked the doors of the court. A change in policy at this point, so late in the Olympic cycle, might start a fresh debate.
"I have not been comfortable with the evaluation process for selection. We don't get to know how we are being marked and why certain boxers are getting opportunity again and again. I have raised my concerns many times," said a national camper who could not make it to the team in Italy.
A coach, aware of developments, said you need one Olympic cycle to bring changes. "To bring change into any system it takes time. The evaluation process he introduced is followed in some other countries also. It is good and boxers were getting used to it. When we won four medals at world championships, nobody was complaining," said the coach.
Dunne joined late in October 2022, after BFI dragged its feet over the contract extension of previous HPD Santiago Nieva for a year losing crucial time in preparation for Paris Olympics. When Dunne joined, he had the responsibility to prepare the team for world championships and Asian Games and wanted a focussed approach with small set of elite boxers in the national camp. At the Asian Games, Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Preeti Saipawar and Parveen Hooda, won Paris berths, but the men boxers let him down there.