Indian boxers have talent, says Dunne

NEW DELHI: The performance of the Indian boxers at the Tokyo Olympics, especially the men’s team, drew flak. The dismal show led to changes in the coaching staff that saw both the foreign high performance coaches, Rafaelle Bergamasco and Santiago Nieva, quit.

Bernard Dunne now takes over the responsibility to lead Indian boxing to success at the Paris Olympics. Dunne, who was appointed India’s boxing high performance director, is a former professional Irish boxer of repute. He is coming after an impressive tenure as high performance director of Ireland boxing. Dunne will be overseeing the preparation of both Indian elite men’s and women’s teams and he will have to hit the ground running since it’s less than two years to Paris. The qualification for the Olympics begins next year with the Asian Games being the first stop.

“I am getting to know the coaching staff, support staff, and importantly the athletes and speak to them about my philosophy. My job is to support them in every way I can to maximize their potential,” said Dunne in an interview.

Currently in Patiala for the last two weeks, Dunne is working with the Indians teams ahead of the Asian Championships. “Next year’s priority will be qualifying for the Olympic Games and winning medals at Paris Olympics,” he said.

Dunne’s focus would be on finer aspects that can enhance performance at the highest level. “What we need to do is to get the process right, the preparation right to get to correct performance. I would like to see how the athletes prepare themselves. To be more successful, the performance piece has to be perfect. I am talking about complete preparation like understanding styles, and understanding why I want an athlete to run a certain distance or lift a certain weight. They need to rest their bodies -- people need to understand that rest is sometimes important.”

It will put a lot more onus on the athletes to know and understand their bodies and training regimes. “Boxing is always a dominant part of the programme but science, nutrition, strength and conditioning, physiology, psychology also have a big part to play in making sure the athletes are ready to compete at the highest level.”

“It is like a jigsaw puzzle. When we get those little pieces together, the process of how we do things – everything else takes care of the job.”

Dunne rates Indian boxers very highly.

“I have seen Indian boxers compete. Their work ethic is really great. Hard work is a key ingredient to success but also smart work is important.”

“I believe that the talent is here. I believe hunger is here. India should have had more than three medals at the Olympic Games given its history and population. If I am allowed to do my job correctly, I can see this team having great success.”*

Bernard Dunne