Outgoing high-performance director Santiago Nieva on the highs and lows of his India boxing stint

Post the choice trials for the Indian males’s crew for the Commonwealth Games, chief high-performance director Santiago Nieva was an emotional man. As the Swede completes his tenure earlier than becoming a member of Australia as their head coach, he talks about varied sides of Indian boxing, his coverage of getting no trials, the disappointments on the Tokyo Olympics and what lies forward for Indian boxing.

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Q. You joined the crew in April 2017 and are leaving now after a five-year stint. What has been the primary distinction between then and now?

A. The fundamental distinction has been the high-performance construction that I attempted to place in place. We wanted good tactical and technical coaching and labored round that. There was a lot emphasis on energy and endurance earlier and I needed to put the deal with energy and ways too.

Tactically talking, our boxers have been going head-hunting within the ring quite than aiming for extra variations. We needed to work on issues like avoiding clinching the opponent or holding, and figuring out the way to come out of these conditions.

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Once it acquired into their heads, it turned simpler to coach. The factor about high boxing nations like Russia, Cuba and Kazakhstan is that they begin tactically proper from the grassroots. A boxer on the age of say 16-17 has good ring IQ. And I attempted to inculcate that.

The chief high-performance director Santiago Nieva was an emotional man. (Express photograph by Jasbir Malhi)

Q. You have been an advocate for having no trials for boxers for worldwide competitions like CWG, Asian Games or Olympic qualifiers. We have seen boxers like Nikhat Zareen and others demanding trials. What’s you tackle this problem?

A. Well, in India, persons are loopy about having trials. When I launched this idea and coverage of getting no trials, clearly I confronted resistance from the boxers who don’t qualify. I imagine if there’s a boxer who has confirmed himself on the worldwide degree by way of publicity with coaches too investing in him, why put additional burden of trials on him.

In some instances, the place we now have equally good boxers, trials are essential. As the pinnacle coach, you must be capable of take the choice based mostly on the boxer’s evaluation and again that boxer in a specific weight class. The latest qualification system for the Paris Olympics has diminished the variety of qualifiers and put extra emphasis on world rankings.

If we again one boxer, who has common good performances at worldwide degree, he’ll be capable of gather extra rating factors. Yes, having no trials is just not a fool-proof system however that’s my view.

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Boxing is in Hussamuddin’s blood. His father Mohammed Samsamuddin is a boxing coach and his brothers Etheshamuddin and Itishmuddin are pugilists and Indian internationals.

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Q. What would be the spotlight of your stint?

A. There are a number of highs for me. Seeing Amit Panghal field on the planet championship ultimate in 2019, the place we gained two medals and 4 boxers reaching the quarters, was undoubtedly one of many excessive factors of my profession, aside from the Indian contingent successful 13 medals within the 2019 Asian Championships.

But the most effective second needs to be Amit beating reigning Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov within the Asian Games ultimate in 2018. That made us imagine that something is feasible and gave rise to the need to intention for a medal on the Olympics for every boxer.

Q. And what has been the low level of your stint?

A. Well, Tokyo needs to be the low level by way of males’s boxing. There isn’t any secret that we couldn’t ship in response to our expectations and no hiding from the truth that we didn’t win a medal. People ask me to do an evaluation and I solely should say that sadly, it occurred on the Olympics.

We have to know that each one our boxers misplaced to good opponents. The Colombian (Yuberjen Martinez), whom Amit misplaced to, is a 2016 Olympic medallist and for those who requested me two months previous to the Olympics, I might have stated Amit would defeat him. In Italy, he dominated Amit thrice in sparring classes. We thought that within the Olympics, Amit will be capable of use the larger ring higher and Amit confirmed that successful the primary spherical.

But for that, he had to spend so much of vitality and acquired drained within the subsequent two rounds. Manish misplaced to an excellent boxer. Vikas acquired injured in Italy however as coaches, we took a choice to take a danger. If it was some other competitors, we may have pulled him out. We have been certain that even when he was not one hundred pc match, he may deal with it with all of the expertise. Unfortunately, he reinjured himself and Mensa Okazawa was excellent.

Our finest boxer on the Olympics was Satish, who got here near successful a medal however confronted any person like Bakhodir Jalolov. We didn’t qualify any ladies boxers for Rio however certified 4 ladies boxers for Tokyo. To return with one medal, the place few international locations medalled greater than as soon as, is an efficient achievement.

Q. Women’s high-performance supervisor Raffaele Bergamasco give up as a result of non-extension of his contract final 12 months. Under him, the ladies boxers returned with an Olympic medal. How do you see his departure?

A. Obviously, it was a giant loss for Indian boxing. It was tough that he took such a choice and we now have to respect that. If we take a look at the outcomes, he had a really profitable journey in India and Indians owe him for taking part in a job in Lovlina’s (Borgohain) bronze medal, India’s solely third medal within the sport.

𝗕𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗻 😍

Blessing your feed with a cheerful image of our Olympic medalist- @LovlinaBorgohai & coach Raffaele Bergamasco 📸#RingKeBaazigar#Boxing#Tokyo2020#StaffIndia#Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/4tPl2YwJ4x

— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) August 4, 2021

Q. There has been some criticism of the Indian crew coaching in Italy forward of the Olympics. Boxers like Vikas Krishan have termed the shortage of Indian meals choices as one of many causes for failure in Tokyo. Do you imagine that the coaching stint in Italy performed a job in what occurred with Indian boxers in Tokyo?

A. We have to know that it was not our plan to spend a lot time forward of the Olympics in Italy. We had a gathering with boxers and everyone within the males’s camp agreed for a 2-3 week camp in Italy. Among ladies’s boxers, solely Mary Kom stated she will probably be coaching in India.

The plan was to spend 2-3 weeks in Italy and are available again to India after which go to the Olympics. But because the Covid-19 state of affairs modified, the federal government informed us that we now have to quarantine if we come again to India. So, we needed to make that call of staying in Italy for longer.

Santiago Nieva stated that there was a lot emphasis on energy and endurance earlier and I needed to put the deal with energy and ways too. (Express photograph)

The cause we selected Italy was that we felt it might swimsuit us. Columbia and Ecuador groups have been coaching there and later the France and Azerbaijan groups additionally skilled there. Yes, meals was an issue for the prolonged keep they usually helped us with no matter they may have achieved. But no person had complained once we skilled on the identical venue earlier than the world championships or Olympic qualifiers and gave outcomes.

To say Italy is the only cause for what occurred within the Olympics is to simplify issues. It is our duty as coaches, boxers and the entire programme.

Q. Looking ahead, how do you see Indian boxing develop and what will probably be your recommendation to Indian boxers?

A. Indian boxing has to look ahead. Losing is a part of the sport and sure, we failed in Tokyo besides that one medal however we now have to construct on the method. Remember, two world champions misplaced within the first spherical in Tokyo.

A rustic like France, which gained six medals in Rio, didn’t win a medal in Tokyo. If you need any person to take the duty of failure, I’ll take it. But I’m joyful that we now have a training construction and a factor known as high-performance administration in place in Indian boxing. What we must always intention for is to have a superb inner competitors construction all year long.

Prior to Covid-19, we had a crew in WSB (World Series of Boxing), had professional nights and professional leagues, and focus ought to be on offering the boxers a aggressive ambiance on a regular basis.

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And I hope to pat considered one of my boxers in Paris for successful an Olympic medal.