Santiago Nieva, high performance coach for Indian National Boxing Team, has stated his confidence in the training received by the members of the team.
THE BOXERS WILL PARTICIPATE IN CHEMISTRY CUP
The elite bunch of Indian boxers are readying themselves up for Chemistry Cup, which will begin in Germany from December 15. The participation in the tournament will be the final event for the Indians, who have been training in an extensive European Tour for about two months, mostly training at Italy’s Olympic Center in Assisi.
Nine Indian boxers, five male and four female, are already qualified to participate at Tokyo Olympics, to be held in mid-2021. When the lockdown regulations loosened in the nation, the core group of nine men and five women were taken to Italy on October 16. Alexis Vastine International boxing tournament were their first competitive step since the outbreak of the pandemic, and they managed to win three gold, one silver and three bronze. Amit Panghal (52kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) were the winners of gold medals.
NIEVA SAID THE BOXERS HAD QUALITY TRAINING
Nieva said that the boxers had had quality training at Assisi, Italy. Having faced good competition in France and Italy, they were now ready to face more competition in Germany.
“The boxers got good quality training and sparring at the Asissi centre. We had very good competition in France and Italy and now we are getting another strong competition in Germany,” he said.
“We were not 100 per cent in Alexis Vastine, but were definitely better than other teams—not even France and the USA were able to match us. That is a positive sign. We still have some way to go, but this is the same for the rest of the world,” Nieva added.
THEY’LL HOPEFULLY BE PREPARED AT THE TIME OF OLYMPICS
Nueva opined that in a situation where many countries were not still not able to go abroad and participate in international competitions, India definitely stood at a better position. According to him, the core group is above average and they will hopefully be prepared at the time of the mega-event.
“We have already started the international camp and competition. There are many countries who are still not able to go abroad but there are also others who are back to normal training and even have their domestic competitions going on. So, I would say we are above average, but this group is doing good preparation. It will take some more time and we will be fully prepared when the Olympic qualifiers come,” he said.
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