India men’s boxing camp shifted to IIS, Manish Kaushik aggravates injury

The Indian men’s boxing camp for those who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics will now take place at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) in Vijayanagar, Karnataka. The centre, run by JSW Group, is a high-performance training centre for Boxing Federation of India.

BFI had planned to start the camp in National Institute of Sport (NIS) , Patiala from June 10 after the lockdown was lifted, but not receiving the approval from authorities has led to the move. JSW-backed boxers Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) reached Vijayanagar on Wednesday, it is learnt. They will be soon joined by Satish Kumar (+91kg), Amit Panghal (52kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg). High performance director Santiago Nieva, who is currently in Patiala, and chief coach CA Kuttappa are expected to join them. The boxers will have to go through the requisite quarantine and COVID-19 testing before they can start training.

The track and field athletes and weightlifters, who were already in isolation at the Patiala campus since the lockdown, have resumed training. No athlete from outside has been allowed to join them. BFI had held a meeting of the boxers and coaches on May 23 and sent a proposal to Sports Authority of India (SAI) for the camp in Patiala. They also needed clearances from the state government, but delay in getting clearances prompted the shift, a BFI source said.

“We still have to get required approval for the camp but we have started the process. The coaches also need to get clearance from SAI, so it will take some more time before the five boxers and two coaches can reach there. Once the camp starts, we can add more boxers,” the source said.

IIS is also covered under SAI’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that athletes and coaches have to follow.

Manish injury

Manish Kaushik injured his right bicep during the Asian Olympic qualifier in Jordan in March, which got aggravated during while he spent the lockdown period at home. He flew to Mumbai on Wednesday to consult noted orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala.

“He had a sprain of the bicep that time. He was under observation and doing well. But after coming to India, they were in quarantine and then lockdown started, so we were not able to physically assess his improvement,” said sports medicine specialist Karanjeet Singh, who is associated with BFI.

“We kept in touch through virtual communication and his swelling had come down. He was doing physiotherapy and showed improvement. He had started a bit of training also. Then I got a call from him on Saturday that he was having pain. So an MRI was done and he has gone to Mumbai to consult an expert.”