Boxing high-performance director Santiago Nieva hoping to add seven boxers to national camp as lockdown eases

Resumption is done and expansion can now follow, said Indian boxing’s High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva, revealing that addition of seven more boxers has been proposed at the ongoing national training camp for the Olympic-bound in Patiala. Nine male boxers and a few of their women counterparts are training at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala, taking the first step towards a restart amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These include world silver-medallist and top Olympic medal hope Amit Panghal. “We are looking to add seven more boxers, two coaches and a support staff member to this list in the next few weeks. Approval has been sought (from SAI). We are assessing things one month at a time,” Nieva told PTI. “The boxers who are here are training under the strict health safety protocol given to us and things have been smooth. I can’t give you names but the ones we want included next are second in rankings of their respective categories,” he said. The camp started in the first week of this month after boxers, willing to take the trip to Patiala were quarantined, tested and then allowed to enter the NIS. In between, a controversy flared up when the Olympic-bound duo of Vikas Krishan and Satish Kumar “unknowingly” broke the quarantine protocol. The two have since made Bengaluru’s Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) their training base and won’t be coming back, despite getting a SAI go ahead, due to the travelling involved. “We are currently able to do 70 per cent of the things that we used to do,” Nieva said of the training regimen in Patiala. “As per the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), we cannot enter the ring or do sparring or pad work. But we can do running, strength training, and lot of (punching) bags. That’s enough for now,” he added. A boxer not able to access the ring, does it feel weird? “Not as of now. Maybe another three-four weeks and it will begin to feel weird but what to do. We have to be patient. Like the rest of the world, we have to adjust and adapt,” Nieva said. Talking about the precautions being taken, Nieva said all campers’ body temperatures are checked daily and the hygiene protocol is also being adhered to strictly. “Everyone has adjusted to these small changes. It is a highly motivated bunch and they are doing fine even with some restrictions,” he said. The nine Indian boxers to have qualified for Tokyo Olympics are MC Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), Vikas (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish (+91kg). With all international competition halted for the time being and Olympics postponed to next year, Nieva said the boxers can afford to take it a bit slow. “We have enough time to get back top form. It’s still one year for the Olympics, I am fine with the pace of training at this point. But it remains an evolving situation and we are all adjusting,” Nieva said. Indian women’s boxing’s High Performance Director Search Raffaele Bergamasco, who had gone to Italy to be with his wife as she recovered from cancer, is ready to fly back and is awaiting visa clearance. Bergamasco flew to Assisi in June and was expected back in few weeks’ time but his stay in Italy has been extended due to the pending visa procedure. “He should be here some time this month. He is all set, just needs visa clearance,” a top BFI official said. Of the Olympic-bound women boxers, six-time world champion and London Games bronze-medallist MC Mary Kom and two-time world bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain are training at their respective home bases as joining the camp in Patiala was optional.