HPD Dunne of Indian boxing resigns, foreign coach will be sacked
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New Delhi: Four months before the Paris Games, High Performance Director (HPD) Bernard Dunne has resigned while foreign coach Dmitry Dmitruk is likely to be removed from the post soon following the disappointing performance of Indian boxers in the Olympic qualifiers.
Dunne, a former Irish boxer, was appointed as HPD in October 2022. He sent his resignation from Italy, where he was with the Indian team for the first World Olympic Boxing Qualifier.
After two qualification events (Asian Games and the first World Olympic Boxing Qualifier), not a single Indian male boxer has been able to secure a place for the Olympics.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has called an executive committee meeting on Friday to assess the situation.
BFI General Secretary Hemant Kalita told PTI, “Bernard is no longer with the team. We have called a working meeting tomorrow, where we will assess everything. Dmitry’s future will also be decided in tomorrow’s meeting.” Dmitry had taken charge as coach in February before the Women’s World Championship last year.
The federation is now considering appointing Indian coaches for the men’s and women’s teams as the last qualifier for the Olympics will be held in May with two months left.
Kalita said, “There will be no foreign coach for the team at present. We will consider Indian coaches.” At present, experienced CA Kuttappa with the men’s team is the only Indian among the coaching members. In June last year, Bhaskar Bhatt left the women’s team.
Indian boxers recently had a disappointing performance at the first World Olympic Boxing Qualifier in Italy. All nine boxers returned empty handed from this competition. In this, Nishant Dev (71 kg) was one win away from achieving the quota but other boxers were out after losing in the initial stages.
So far four women boxers have achieved Olympic quota for India. This includes two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (50 kg), Preeti Pawar (54 kg), Parveen Hooda (57 kg) and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain (75 kg).
Indian boxers’ last chance to earn an Olympic ticket will be in the second qualifier of the World Olympic Boxing. It will be organized in Bangkok from 23 May.
However, BFI will not make any changes in the policy prepared by Dunne for selection in the team in such a short time. Dunne replaced selection trials with a long-term evaluation process for a place in the team.
However, many experienced boxers had opposed the process, the most prominent being World Championship silver medalist Amit Panghal (51 kg). In this process, very less number of boxers remained in the camp due to which they had to face difficulty in practicing.
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