Dunne 'undone' but malaise seems deeper in Indian boxing

Sacking High Performance Director or coach is not the only solution to poor show ahead of Olympics; Boxing federation must introspect to get sport back on track

- INDRANEEL DAS

THE poor show of Indian boxers, especially men, continued at the Olympic Qualifiers that concluded in Italy a few days ago. One of the highest-paid foreign coaches in the Indian setup (Olympics), Irish coach Bernard Dunne who joined as High Performance Director in the latter half of 2022, seems to be the fall guy. Though the Boxing Federation of India secretary is saying that he has resigned, the BFI is divided over accepting his resignation.

As expected, and nothing new in Indian sports administration, there is confusion over Dunne's status. Even he was surprised by the news and said that he has not been informed of any decision taken by the BFI or SAI at this point. He also said he was surprised by secretary's (Hemanta Kalita) comments and did not reflect on what transpired between them.