Fresh plans after unprecedented nine

CHENNAI: Nine. That’s the magic number for Indian boxing, the highest Olympic quotas ever achieved. Getting a second opportunity in a box-off in the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifiers on Wednesday, Manish Kaushik put up a strong show to become the last one to make the cut. That number can increase depending on how the Indians fare in the last qualifying event, scheduled in Paris in May.

India’s previous best came in 2012  when eight secured ticket for the London Olympics. But only MC Mary Kom had gone on to win a medal. Hence, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) is not basking in glory yet. With history in mind and the coronavirus factor, federation officials and the coaches are looking to strike the iron while it’s hot. They want to ensure that boxers are in best shape come Tokyo. Since the inception of BFI, the sport has improved leaps and bounds, with Indians medalling at all levels regularly. To keep that up, BFI president Ajay Singh has called for a meeting with everybody who’s part of the team. “The president wants to chalk out a plan for the boxers to go to the next level,” RK Sacheti, BFI Executive Director, told this daily.

And they are aware that the Olympics is going to be a different beast altogether. “Since the Olympics standard would be much higher, the think tank of the BFI will draw a concrete plan,” Sacheti added.
Before Manish’s record hit, Mary Kom, Simranjit Kaur, Lovlina Borgohain, Pooja Rani, Vikas Krishan, Amit Panghal, Satish Kumar and Ashish Kumar had secured a quota each. “It is a proud moment for Indian boxing. We have the highest number of boxers and we believe we can qualify in more weight categories,” Sacheti said.

Sacheti also said the training schedule will be tweaked because of coronavirus. There were plans to send the Indian boxers to Hiroshima for a six-nation meet in June but that looks unlikely now. Also, the team was supposed to go to Colorado, USA, for a preparatory camp for the qualifiers, which was cancelled. But they might still go if things improve. For now, the team will continue to train at home once they return from Amman. There are also plans to go to France before the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Paris so that the boxers, who are yet to win a quota, can get some exposure.

Talking about exposure tours, that is something that has lifted Indian boxers in recent years. India men’s chief coach CA Kuttappa is intent on building on this return. “We are definitely improving. I believe we have improved 60 to 70 per cent in the last two or three years,” he noted. Under the coaches’ watch, boxers have undergone dynamic changes in recent years. Prior to this competition, Kuttappa revealed that his wards had undergone night fights and invited army boxers in IIS, Vijayanagar. “Sparring is not enough, it becomes predictable. When somebody comes from outside, it becomes difficult.” This is just one of the many small details Kuttappa and the boxers have worked on in order to come this far.

Sangwan in running
Sachin Kumar (81 kg) failed to make his second chance count and lost his final box-off bout. That opens the door for Sumit Sangwan, who had missed out of the first selection trials after being banned by National Anti Doping Acency (NADA) for alleged doping. Sangwan was recently cleared by NADA’s appeals panel. Trials for both men (57kg, 81kg and 91kg) and women (57kg) is likely to be conducted at the end of the month.

Cloud nine

Men: Amit Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaurshik (63kg), Vikas Krishan  (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Satish  Kumar (+91kg).
Women: MC Mary Kom (51kg),  Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina  Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg).

quotas for India in previous Olympics
l 1996: 3
l 2000: 4
l 2004: 4
l 2008: 5
l 2012: 8
l 2016: 3
l 2020: 9