National youth coach Bhaskar Bhatt to take over the reigns of women's boxing team
Bhaskar Bhatt is likely to take over as the senior women's head coach, right before the World Championship, as per a report in PTI. For the tournament, while the other boxers have gone through a trial, Olympic bronze-medalist Lovlina Borgohain has been given a direct entry into the championship.
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) Secretary-General Hemanta Kalita has said that the decision to send Borgohain in the 70kg category won't be revisited. "There won't be any trials for the women's world championship. As decided during the Executive Committee meeting in September, national champions, except for the category in which Lovlina competes, will form the team," Kalita asserted.
"The decision to give Lovlina direct entry was based on her Tokyo Olympics performance. It will not be changed," he added.
Meanwhile, Bhatt will take over after Raffaele Bergamasco departed to his home country, with no clarity on the renewal of his contract. Bhatt had been with the youth team since 2017 and was also an assistant coach from 2005 to 2012.
"I will be honoured to be given the responsibility. I have been with the women's camp in the past. So, I have a fair idea about the demands of the job," Bhatt told PTI.
On the other hand, men's boxing coach Santiago Nieva is slated to stay with the Indian team for a bit longer. "Unless we can find a decent replacement for him, there is no point in leaving the position vacant. So, we are still looking but we would prefer for him to stay till the time a replacement is found," a BFI source told PTI.
"The planning should not be disturbed. So he might just stay for a while but nothing is cast in stone yet," he added.