High-Performance director of the Indian Boxing team Santiago Nieva (Photo | YouTube screengrab))
CHENNAI: Retention of a foreign coach, hosting more international and domestic competitions, ensuring more players qualify for Olympics were some of the discussions that transpired between the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Tuesday. The BFI was represented by its president Ajay Singh at the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition meeting.
It is understood that high performance director for the men’s team, Santiago Nieva, is expected to continue. According to insiders, his name figured in the ACTC and is expected to continue. Nieva, who was on an extension, is with the men’s team in the ongoing Belgrade World Championships. There was an overhaul in the men’s coaching staff with Narendra Rana taking over as the national coach chief and former chief coach, CA Kuttappa, turning into a coordinator of coaches.
Interestingly, the BFI is yet to decide on the women’s chief national coach though Bhaskar Bhatt’s name has been submitted. As reported by this newspaper, Bhatt is in the mix and is being considered for the key post for the women’s team but the decision is yet to be taken because the BFI selection committee is yet to decide on the panel of coaches.
It is understood that the BFI is trying to finalise the list sooner than later. Since most of the boxers are from the Railways, there is pressure on the BFI to name quite a few coaches from the board. It has to be noted that Mohammed Ali Qamar, who was the head coach during the recently concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympics, accompanied the Railways team during the senior nationals in Hisar.
