CHENNAI: Against odds, Indian boxers made a late entry to Asian Championships, which concluded on Monday, and made a notable impression. Coaches at the helm of affairs Santiago Nieva and CA Kuttappa, are already back in India and are pleased by what they witnessed in Dubai. There were big hits and close misses with the coaches taking mental notes of little details — which could be worth gold looking at the bigger picture, and now are foccussed on making use of vital lessons before the upcoming Olympics.
There’s also a solid chance that the Olympic-bound pugilists could go abroad in the next few weeks before they travel to Tokyo. For now, barring Ashish Kumar (75 kg) and the coaches, all the other boxers will take a breather (2, 3 days) before they return to training in Patiala. “We’re going abroad for training so that we can get sparring with some international boxers including those who have qualified for the Olympics. That is the main thing. The rest is continuing to work on what we have been doing, learn from this tournament and see where we can improve. There’s no radical change, we’ll continue to give our best in training, “ India men’s high performance coach Nieva said.
Five Indians medalled with Sanjeet bagging the lone gold (men’s section). Four boxers might have missed out on medals but men’s chief coach Kuttappa is not worried. He said that all the boxers have gotten a kick after going head-to-head against boxing powerhouses like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. “Everyone is motivated. To go toe-to-toe against top boxers from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan gives everyone plenty of confidence. Now, we have some idea where we stand.”
Amit Panghal was the main focus on the final day. However, he missed out on gold after losing 2-3 to familiar rival Shakhobidin Zoirov. Despite the loss, Kuttappa is stoked after this fighting display by Panghal. “We had asked him to play an attacking game. We realised that Zoirov tends to get tired when he is under pressure. He seemed exhausted in the second and third round. We felt he should have clearly won the second round. Hence, we protested.” One of the things that Indians did well in Dubai according to Nieva is throwing accurate punches, something that they have put emphasis on recently.