Women’s boxing chief coach Bhatt quits in selection row

Ahead of the Asian Games selection, Indian boxing courted fresh controversy with the women's team chief coach Bhaskar Bhatt resigning from the national camp reportedly due to differences with India’s Irish High Performance Director Bernard Dunne. Bhatt has resumed his duties as HPD at Sports Authority of India (SAI), Rohtak.

“I was not able to focus on my job as HPD in Rohtak so I asked SAI to relieve me from the national camp,” Bhatt said when contacted. A senior Boxing Federation of India (BFI) official, who did not wish to be named, though said Bhatt quit because of differences over the selection process and preparation of the national team.

Dunne has been firefighting within BFI since he introduced a selection policy based on an evaluation process, doing away with the selection trials. He has also drastically reduced the number of campers, selecting only three boxers per category.

Currently, the evaluation process to select the boxers for the Asian Games is on for six weight categories at the national camp. Nikhat Zareen (52kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) have sealed their places for the Hangzhou Games having won gold in Olympic categories at the Delhi world championships this year. In their divisions, assessment is being done to pick the second and third choice boxer, if needed.

The Asian Games is a qualifier for the Paris Olympics. The international boxing body has been de-recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic Council of Asia will conduct the Asian Games competition.

It is learnt that Bhatt spoke to Dunne, urging him to prepare boxers in all 10 categories to prepare for next year’s major events, but the HPD wanted to focus only on the Asian Games. Bhatt also wanted four girls to be selected per category in the national camp.

“He has informed BFI that he doesn't want to be part of the national camp,” a BFI official said.

“There were differences between Dunne and him. Bhatt has been telling him to have all the weight categories in the national camp and to include more girls per category because we also need to focus on bench strength,” said the official.

Before the world championships in March, three elite boxers challenged the new selection policy in court. The Delhi high court asked the federation to submit records of the evaluation process but said it would not interfere in the selection. India then won an unprecedented four titles, which had temporarily put to rest the selection controversy.

BFI will have to select the squad by July 30, the deadline given by Indian Olympic Association to the national federations for sending the teams.

“The coaches have complained that they do not have any role in the evaluation process. It's the HPD who gets to decide everything,” the BFI official added.

Bhatt had joined the national camp after the exit of Rafaelle Bergamasco as Indian women’s boxing HPD in 2021.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.