It will be an exciting year for the coaches as well as for the boxers. The Asian Games in September will be the major competition of the 2026 season.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has changed guards to reap good harvest in the 2026 season. The women’s team coach will be foreign expert Santiago Nieva while Services coach CA Kuttappa returns to oversee the men’s boxing team.
Surprisingly, Chandra Lal, former chief women’s boxing coach has been excluded from the camp. Dharmendra Yadav who was heading the men’s team last season has been included in the camp but will have to work under Kuttappa.
Kuttappa’s tenure as the head coach of the men’s team wasn’t productive in the past. He wasn’t a decision maker as foreign experts associated with the national team then took the final call.
The BFI has named 108 members, including 68 boxers and 20 coaches for the 60 days coaching camp starting this week at Patiala’s National Institute of Sports in Punjab. The BFI has also named 20 support staff, including one psychologist for the national camp that will conclude on March 14.
The BFI has also shortlisted over a dozen SAI (Sports Authority of India) boxing experts for the national camp. The SAI coaches will be attached to the camp subject to getting approval from the Corporate Office in New Delhi.
The boxers in men and women groups have been shortlisted on the basis of their performance in the just concluded senior national boxing championships held at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Majority of the boxers in the men’s national camp are from the Services team.
Selected boxers for the elite national coaching camp at NIS Patiala from January 12 to March 14:
Men: Vishwanath Suresh, Rishi Singh (50kg), Jadumani Singh, Pawan Bartwal, Victor Singh, Amit Panghal (55kg), Md Hussamuddin, Sachin, Bhupinder Singh, Raman (60kg), Aditya Pratap, Abhinash Jamwal, Rohit, Amit Kumar (65kg), Hitesh, Deepak, Vivek, Sumit (70kg), Sumit, Akash (75kg), Ankush, Malsawmtluanga, Kunal, Akshay (80kg), Lokesh, Jugnoo (85kg), Harsh Chaudhary, Naman, Bobin, Kapil Pokhariya (90kg), Narender, Sawan Gill, Chetan, Gaurav (plus 90kg).
Women: Minakshi, Manju Rani (48kg), Nikhat Zareen, Nitu, Kusum Baghel, Jyoti (51kg), Preeti, Poonam, Aarti Dhariyal, Priyanka (54kg), Prachi, Vinka, Anjali Singh, Muskan (57kg). Priya, Disha Patil, Mahi Lama, Ankushita Boro (60kg), Pranjal Yadav, Kajal, Neeraj Phogat, Ritu (65kg), Arundhati Choudhary, Sneha, Saneh, Gitumoni Gogoi (70kg), Lovlina Borgohain, Sanamacha Chanu, Imroz Khan, Monika (75kg), Pooja Rani, Naina (80kg).
EOM
