Women head into boxing worlds tactically, technically improved

The performance of the men’s boxing team at the world championships last month has raised expectations for the women too, as they head to their world meet in Ulan-Ude, Russia, starting on Thursday. Indian team’s coach Raffaele Bergamasco admitted there would be pressure but said the girls are motivated to put up an inspiring performance.

At the last AIBA women’s world championships at home in New Delhi in 2018, India had won four medals. MC Mary Kom led the way with her record sixth gold in the light flyweight category, but it was also a coming of age for a young crop of boxers. While Sonia Chahal, then 20, bagged silver, 23-year-old Simranjit Kaur and 20-year-old Lovlina Borgohain took home bronze medals. For all three, it was their maiden world championship.

Since then, the Indian team has given consistent results in international tournaments. At the domestic level too competition in the five Olympic weight divisions has been stiff, as the top boxers moved up and down in weight to fit into those categories.

Simranjit switched from 64 to 60kg and Manish Maun, who reached the quarterfinals in the last world championships, moved up to 57kg from 54kg.

However, the world championships was stripped off its status as an Olympic qualification event in May as the international boxing body was suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Now the Olympic qualifiers will take place in February and May. In terms of planning for the world championships and the qualifiers, coach Bergamasco has been going through a challenging situation. “It is a problem that coaches everywhere in the world are facing because it is difficult to plan when suddenly things change,” Bergamasco said.

“This world championships was an Olympic qualifier and we had been preparing accordingly. Also, there will be very short time between the Olympic qualifier in May and the Tokyo Olympics in August . It is not ideal for a boxer to peak and give a good performance in such a short time.”

Yet, there is no letting up. The women’s team head into the tournament with plenty to prove. MC Mary Kom (51kg) and Sarita Devi (60kg) want to prove that they still have it in them to step into the ring and beat the best.

Neeraj Phogat (57 kg) has been on a roll, beating the top boxers at home and wants to carry that form onto the international stage and Lovlina (69 kg) wants to do one better than her 2018 bronze. In 75kg, Saweety Boora earned her place by beating Asian Championships gold medallist Pooja Rani in the trials, so there’s high expectations from her as well.

“They understand that this championship is very important for next year’s qualification,” Bergamasco said. “They are motivated after the result of the men’s team and want to return a good performance like last year.”

With most of the top boxers having already changed their weight classes, the non-Olympic categories will have four debutants—Manju Rani (48kg), Jamuna Boro (54kg) Manju Bamboriya (64kg) and Nandini (81kg). Seasoned Kavita Chahal, who has two world championships bronze, has comeback in 81+kg.

The women have kept the tempo up with six medals at the Asian Championships. Bergamasco said it was a good indication of their progress. Two years ago when he took over the coaching reins, there was a lack of technical and tactical awareness.

“Indian boxers focused more on becoming strong,” he said. “They always showed a big heart in the ring, but now they are strong and have improved technically and tactically. The foot movement was slow. I insisted on having good speed and foot movement which are essential in today’s boxing. “Our level has gone up. In this worlds, and Tokyo Olympics, 80 per cent of medals is expected to go to Asian countries and it is good for us.”