India's chief boxing coaches left out of CWG contingent

India’s chief boxing coaches S.R. Singh and Shiv Singh have been left out of the contingent for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast from April 4-15.

The two senior coaches will return after attending the one-week training camp in Canberra, before the start of CWG.

In a departure from convention, India’s chief boxing coaches S.R. Singh and Shiv Singh have been left out of the contingent for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast from April 4-15.

Men’s chief coach S.R. Singh and women’s chief coach Shiv Singh will be travelling with the 12-member CWG squad on Sunday but only for the one-week training camp at the Australian Institute of Sports in Canberra.

The two senior coaches will then head back to India after the training stint and will be replaced by assistant coaches from India in the squad. During the Games, high performance director Santiago Nieva and women’s high performance manager Raffaele Bergamasco will lead the coaching contingent for India.

It has been learnt that this decision has not gone down well with the Indian coaches. Former India coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who has been associated with both men’s and women’s team in the past, was a regular member of the contingent in multi-sporting events like the CWG and the Olympics.

R.K. Sacheti, executive director at Boxing Federation of India (BFI), said leaving out the Indian coaches was a call they were forced to take. It is a 21-member contingent including 12 boxers, five coaches, two physios and a video analyst.

“According to the Commonwealth Games Federation rules, the support staff size cannot be more than one third the size of athletes contingent. The foreign coaches have to be there, so unfortunately someone had to miss out,” Sacheti told PTI.

“However, I don’ see it as much of an issue and there will be junior coaches who can be the communication link between the players and foreign coaches. Also, the Indian coaches will be there with the team for the entire training period. It is only that they will not be with them during the games,” he added.

A BFI source said the decision was also dictated by the fact that the coaching contingent couldn’t be entirely made of leaders. The ringside seconds comprise the chief coach and an assistant coach.

“The leading positions are being held by Santiago and Raffaele and the coaching squad cannot just have leaders. Assistants have a job to do, so they have to be in the contingent and that’s why the Indian chief coaches are being left out,” the source said on condition of anonymity.