In a bitter-sweet Olympic campaign for India in Paris, boxing belonged to the first category. It was a sad pill to swallow. Medals were expected from this discipline. It was one of the sports ministry’s priority events. Not without a reason. Indians had been returning from the World Championships of boxing with medals around their necks — in the men’s and women’s sections.
To come back from Paris empty-handed was a dampener. It was one of the country’s most looked after sectors in sports. Boxing fetched India Olympic medals in 2008, 2012 and 2021. Even in 2016, when Indian didn’t get a podium-finish, there were near misses. One can say that Nishant Dev’s defeat in the quarter-finals was another near miss. That’s true. But was the effort enough? From a team point of view?
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) should take a share of the blame of this wish un-fulfilment. This body was doing a commendable job over the last many years. It had a well constructed coaching system is place, with a mix of foreigners and former India boxers. There was a Cuban specialist called Blas Fernandez in a prominent position for years. Several Indians, who had won medals in international competitions, were part of the system as well.
Then, something snapped. The BFI had on its payrolls renowned coaches like Bernard Dunne and Dmitry Dmitruk. Both had their association with the Indian boxing system cut earlier this year. The poor performance of the Indians in the Olympic-qualifying events was put forth as the reason. There might have been some validity to that line of thinking as well. But, what was Plan B, just months before the quadrennial sports spectacle? There were a few who had qualified. Who was to look after them and get them ready for the biggest challenge?
In 2023, Indians (Deepak Bhoria, Mohammad Hussamuddin and Nishant) won three medals in the men’s World Championships held in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. This was an all-time high for the country. In the same year in the women’s competition held in Delhi, there were four gold medals (Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora). So surely, there was potential to convert this into at least a few podium finishes in Paris a year later.
That did not happen and that’s where the BFI can’t escape the blame. Boxers from Uzbekistan won five gold medals. Kazakhstan won two medals. Cape Verde and Panama came back with one each. Surely, these countries did not spend on coaching and preparations as India did. Not possible, right? That means something went wrong with India. Somewhere, there were inadequacies in planning and thoughts. What was that?
These are questions without easy answers. There are layers and layers of unpleasant truths lying beneath this reality. People concerned are aware of those. Yes, they don’t have a magic wand to solve this overnight, but they surely know how to get close to it. To see a glory discipline getting diluted into something just like incidental must be harsh when it comes to sports lovers of India. Powers that be, and there are many in centres of power, should address this.
In other news:
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Shailesh Kumar broke a nine-year-old high jump record (T63 category) at Asian Para Games in Hangzhou in 2023. Now, with eyes set on an even bigger stage, the #Paralympics in Paris, he talks of his preparations & hopes for glory@RohanDC98 https://t.co/fzZkC2hqGE
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) August 16, 2024
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