CHENNAI: A competitive tournament is worth gold for Olympic-bound athletes in post-Covid world. Boxers, after a period of uncertainty, are geared up for Asian Championships. And the significance of the event is not lost out on them. The Indian contingent comprising of 20 boxers, eight coaches, two physios, one doctor and a video analyst was due to leave for Dubai, the place where the continental event is taking place, in the wee hours on Saturday.
Upon landing in the Gulf nation, they are expected to be subjected to coronavirus tests. The technical meeting and official draw is scheduled to take place on May 23 before the opening bouts a day later at the Le Meridien Hotel Grand Ballroom, which is near the Dubai International Airport. Happy to see his wards get this golden opportunity, India men’s high performance coach Santiago Nieva, under whom the boxers have improved leaps and bounds, remains optimistic as ever.
“It is important, getting one final competition before the Olympics. Everywhere we go, we go to win. It goes without saying the present situation for everyone has been far from ideal, but I’m sure a lot of countries would say the same. We go with high expectations as always. We know that we have a good team and we also know the event will be tough with some of the world’s best boxers motivated to show their worth before their Olympics,” Nieva said.
In the previous edition in 2019, India had finished third with an impressive 13 medals (2G, 4S, 7B). A solid show by Amit Panghal (52 kg), one of the gold medallists in 2019, and the rest will be a timely one with Olympics on the horizon. “We’ll get a clearer picture of where we stand before the Olympics. Boxers will be motivated to come out on the winning side,” Nieva noted.
It’s not like boxers have been competition-deprived since pandemic. In fact, they have had several international meets in Europe in the last few months or so. But it has to be noted that the quality of those competitions are nowhere close to the Asian Championships. Many Olympic-bound boxers from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will be looking to assert their dominance.
Several Indian boxers and coaches being infected with Covid had disturbed their flow in training but that has not diminished their ambitions. “We have had setbacks because of the coronavirus but all the boxers are in a positive frame of mind,” CA Kuttappa, men’s chief coach, said.