CHENNAI: Nepal has witnessed one of the worst natural disasters in decades as thousand were affected by the devastating floods on Wednesday. Far away in Guwahati, a bunch of young boxers are preparing for the upcoming Asian Games. They have heard about the disaster back home and were concerned. But with the continental meet just a few weeks away, they can't afford to miss their training sessions.
Seven boxers — three women and four men — have been part of a camp in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regional centre in Guwahati since August 10. Because Nepal's facilities are not as good as in India, they come here to train whenever they can. Coach Deepak Maharjan said more than the facilities which are well-equipped with modern amenities, sparring partners also make a lot of difference. He said the team did hear about the tragedy back home and were devastated but none of them come from the affected region. "They are really devastated but fortunately, that region is a bit different and all our boxers' families are not affected," he told this daily from Guwahati. "We are getting regular sparring partners and that would really help us a lot."
Tridip Borah, a coach in SAI, said that the team had a round of competition on Friday with boxers from Assam, Army Boys Scouts and Sports Authority of India. He said that High Performance Coach (HPC) Narendar Rana, a former national chief coach, has been supervising the entire coaching programme. Deepak said that everything has been arranged by the SAI. "We get physios, ice baths, massage and whatever is required for elite boxers' training programme," he said, adding the team will be leaving India for Japan on September 15 for the September 19-October 4 Games.
The Nepal coach was hopeful that someone from the team could win a medal this time. The coach himself was an Asian Games Guangzhou medallist and has full faith in his wards. "Chandra Bahadur has been performing quite well in international competitions and even other boxers have the potential to medal."
The team: Women: Asmita Duwal (54kg), Ramisa Sreshtha (51kg) and Kusum Tamang (65kg). Men: Chandra Bahadur Thapa (55kg), Khagendro Roka (60kg), Dan Bahadur Darlami (70kg) and Rabin Nepal (90kg)
