CHENNAI: The usual grind to elevate their all-round boxing skills with emphasis on tactics, an unorthodox session to lighten up the atmosphere and inculcate team spirit, the last few weeks in the national camp has been a productive experience for Indian boxers. Santiago Nieva, head coach of the women's boxing team, is one of the key figures who has been overseeing the boxers' daily progress. Now, Nieva is hopeful that those sessions will translate into success during the upcoming Asian Championships at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which is set to be held from March 28 to April 11.
After a fairly successful 2025 for women, the team is in high spirits and eager to maintain their rhythm. The said continental competition will be their first major tournament of the year. The importance of this event cannot be understated as it can decide the future for all. If the boxers manage to reach the finals, they'll be an automatic choice for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, which will be held later this year. In a competitive sport like boxing, that's a big advantage to have.
Nieva is not new to Indian boxing, having served earlier as high-performance director from 2017 to 2021. Having had a good look at talent in store since his comeback (rejoined earlier this year), he has a fair idea on where the boxers stand. Nieva said the coaching staff mainly focussed on their technique, especially their guard. "It's (worked on) a bit of everything. We mainly worked on some of the technical things. We looked at how they can use a strong guard, especially those who have very good feet, moving in and out. Their defensive side, using side steps... Sometimes, when they are a little bit tired, they tend to become quite messy, their punches. We are working a little bit on how they can manage those things," he told The New Indian Express.
"With (worked) their footwork and also their upper body movement, also working on building a strong guard to tighten their defence, especially if the opponent comes on very aggressively or they are a little bit tired towards the last round and how to stay compact during those times and also how to counter effectively during those times. We implemented those things in Spain (Boxam meet) already and hopefully, we can add more during the Asian Championships," the Argentina-born Swedish coach added.
The first batch of boxers including Nikhat Zareen reached Mongolia on Saturday. Nieva, who's part of the second batch, is scheduled to leave on Sunday evening. The team will get ample time to acclimatise and apply finishing touches to their skills. Nikhat, one of the medal contenders, will be taking part in an international meet for the first time this year. Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain, who captured a gold medal during the Boxam Tournament at Spain in February, is another member of the team who needs no introduction. Nieva is just eager to see them get going. "They are doing well. Lovlina did very well at Boxam. It will be interesting to see how they perform. They are looking good in training and we're hopeful that they can give us some good medals."
Jaismine Lamboria, who missed the Boxam tournament, is another boxer who could challenge for gold. Nieva has tall hopes from her side as well but he knows it's going to be a steep challenge for all. "She had a fantastic 2025 and she's looking very good in training and I'm sure with the confidence and experience she gathered last year, we are hopeful of a good result from her. All these goals have their credentials but many other boxers in Asia are also certified talents. It has become very competitive lately, both men and women."
"Sometimes boxers look good in training against familiar partners whom they know very well but it can be different during actual bouts. Many of them are experienced with previous results. So we're hopeful that we can achieve something during the Asian Championships."
Talking about training partners, the No-2 ranked boxers (various categories) will also be part of the international training camp so that the main boxers can get quality sparring ahead of the event. A few other teams are also expected to be part of the training camp.
With an objective to develop a sense of team spirit, Nieva said they had recently conducted a photo contest during the camp. Boxers used all their creative juices to amuse themselves. The contest also had prizes at stake. "We organised a photo contest as part of team building activity. All the boxers, coaches and support staff took part. We divided them into teams of six each (mixing them all). There were four teams, who had to take a picture. They could give their own interpretation on how they want their pictures. So one was superheroes, another was the LA 2028 Olympics, third one was goal celebration in team sports and the fourth one was World War II. It was pretty fun. Everybody gave their best and some came up with quite creative pictures. Some used the help of AI too, though we only counted those who didn't use AI. We gave away prizes to the winners in each category," Nieva said.
Can they collect more prizes in the days to come? Time will tell.