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Jonathan SelvarajESPN
With a little over five months to go to the Tokyo Olympics, Indian boxing's High Performance Director Santiago Nieva is upbeat about the prospects of his squad, currently training at the Indian Institute of Sports in Bellary. A couple of months ago, though, Nieva was admittedly nervous as the coronavirus pandemic took a toll on his squad's preparation for the Olympics. Unable to train at more than a rudimentary level in India, Nieva's squad travelled to Italy. Nieva heard something from his hosts that would at least reassure him that his side wasn't the only one under pressure.
"Even though training and competitions had resumed in their country, they were very nervous. They were not sure how they would go about preparing for the Olympics. They were not even sure about the team they were preparing," he recalls. The uncertainty was remarkable, especially when you consider that, with 47 medals and fourth place overall on the all-time Olympic medal tally, Italy is considered one of the traditional powerhouses of boxing.
This edition, of course, has been like no other. While the Olympics were postponed to 2021, several qualification events -- including the European Olympic qualifiers -- were called off due to the pandemic. India has been lucky in this regard since the Asia-Oceania Qualifiers were concluded in early March, just before the wave of tournament cancellations. A record nine (five men and four women) boxers qualified for the Olympics, which gives Nieva some comfort. "It makes things a little easier for us. If we had done badly there, we would have felt a different kind of pressure. It gave us some confidence that we have qualified a good number of boxers. We don't have to panic but we can't relax. It gives us security that otherwise it would have been tough. Other colleagues abroad have (been) facing pressure," he says.
The release of this pressure was especially critical considering how severely the Indian boxing team's Olympic preparation was affected by the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in India. Initially, players were forced to train at home with coaches only able to communicate over the phone for several months. When the camp was reconvened, safety precautions meant the athletes weren't allowed to spar against each other. When Nieva finally managed to get the team out of India for a training stint in Europe, some boxers had to miss out owing to injuries (Manish Kaushik and Mary Kom) or after testing positive for the virus (Lovlina Borgohain).
Even now, although the team has been able to train together in Bellary, there are challenges elsewhere. "The pandemic has affected some countries more than others. Right now, there are several countries that have managed to hold the national championships. Some, like us, have not held anything. That's cut short some of the momentum we were building for Indian boxing as a whole," says Nieva. "The only positive for us is that at least the majority of our team for the Olympics has been able to prepare," he says.
The bulk of the Olympic-qualified boxers being able to train and compete in Europe has been a bonus. "In the beginning (when the boxers were unable to train), there was not much concern because they needed a little break. We were not worried. But once the Olympics got postponed, the situation became worse. After two months of not being able to train, it gets very hard to get back in shape," he says. "It was critical that we were able to go abroad," says Nieva.
Although there was little about the training they did in Europe, that they wouldn't have done at an Indian camp held in non-pandemic times, the fact that they were able to maintain their training at a high level meant there has been no drop-off of standards. Competing in two tournaments has also helped. "More than the training, I think the fact that we were able to stay connected to tournament-level competition is important. If you go too long between competitions, you lose a lot of match fitness," says Simranjit Kaur, who has qualified for the Olympics in the women's 60kg division. "There is no other Asian country that could go to Europe. That was very important for us. This will have an effect on our performance in Tokyo," concurs Nieva.
However, the fact that the Indian team is at an advantage compared to rival countries doesn't mean they can rest easy. For one, there is the hope that the squad can improve on their nine Olympic quotas in the World Olympic Qualifiers still scheduled to be held. "We want to qualify more boxers," says Nieva. "We also know that we have to raise our level. We have already maintained a certain level in our training. Now we have to build on that." he says.
The training stint in Europe has given the team a template to follow, feels Nieva. "Now that we know what is possible, we understand that we can do the first part of our preparation in India and then travel abroad for training and competition. I've already scheduled competitions in Bulgaria and Austria over the next couple of months. Even if there are problems with that, we are looking to bring in teams to train in India. Hopefully, things will clear up internationally over the next few months," he says.
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