CHENNAI: At long last, it seems like Santiago Nieva is back.
Indian boxers have been managing their training sessions without a foreign coach for a while now. It looks like Nieva — who returned to the country a few days back — is ready to resume his duties, though it is learnt that he is yet to officially sign a contract.
Having formerly focused chiefly on the men's elite team, his role is likely to be a bit different this time. He'll be looking to ensure that the entire ecosystem of boxing in the country functions smoothly. For a start, he'll be guiding both the men's and women's teams along with Indian head coaches and support staff. The Swede coach had gone home as his contract ended after the World Championships last year.
"Santiago joined us formally. He'll work as a high performance director. He will do all the planning for the team. The Indians will continue their role as head coaches. He'll decide on preparations ahead of championships, where to go for exposure tours... he'll have all the responsibilities," Hemanta Kalita, secretary general of Boxing Federation of India (BFI), told this daily on Friday. "Until and unless we get a high performance director in the women's section, he'll be taking care of them," he added.
Apart from his role as a coach, Nieva has been proactive behind the scenes in the past and has drawn plans and programmes for boxers/coaches in the country. His new role might mean he could be investing more time in those programmes at all levels. He could set aside his coaching duties inside the ring occasionally and look into other matters to make the programmes/plans more systematic. It is learnt that one of his key duties will be to take care of young talents at the National Centres of Excellence (SAI).
BFI/SAI seeking multiple foreign coaches
Nieva's increased workload could be one of the reasons why the SAI/BFI are looking to bring in more foreign coaches for the boxers. As reported by this daily in January, the SAI/BFI want foreign coaches at all level (both men and women) and formally announced the same recently through a circular.
According to the SAI/BFI circular, which has been posted on BFI's official website, they are on the lookout for four performance directors (one each in elite men and women) and one each at youth and junior level. They are also seeking two strength and conditioning experts (elite men and women).
The deadline for the applications is March 31, which means it could take some time before the SAI/BFI's plans materialise.
That also means the Indian coaches and Nieva are likely to have their hands full in the coming months or so. The IBA Women's World Boxing Championships is scheduled to begin from May 6 and the trials for the same will be held from March 7 to 9. The trials for Asian Games will be held from March 11 to 14.