Coaching crisis, heartbreaks and Olympic setbacks mark a disastrous year for Indian boxing

New Delhi: Indian boxing endured a turbulent year marred by coaching turmoil, crushing defeats, and a medal-less Paris Olympics campaign, all of it made worse by the national federation's negligence that brought unprecedented embarrassment to the country.

There were very few positives to count in a year when, after a widely successful 2023, expectations were sky high.

Yet no boxer was able to add to the three bronze medals -- Vijender Singh (2008), M C Mary Kom (2012) and Lovlina Borgohain (2021) -- that India had secured in the previous editions of the Olympics.

Nishant Dev, unlucky to miss out on an Olympic medal, was India's top performer but the likes of world champions Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina disappointed despite widely held belief that fortunes of women's boxing were following an upward trajectory.

Outside the ring, the Boxing Federation of India's (BFI) negligence cost India an Olympic quota even as administrators globally scrambled to retain the sport on the Olympic roster.

Controversy and coaching crisis

The dismal performance at the first World Qualifying Tournament, where all nine boxers failed to secure a spot at the Paris Games, prompted High Performance Director Bernard Dunne to resign from his position while still in Italy, less than four months before the Olympics.

It wasn't just the defeats that were troubling, but the manner in which the boxers lost that was truly disheartening. Frequent knockouts and RSC out-classed defeats pointed to inherent technical flaws which had not been addressed. With the exception of Nishant, there was hardly any name in Indian boxing who could be spoken about as a success story.

Adding to the woes, the country soon lost the women's 57kg Olympic quota, won by Parveen Hooda at the Asian Games last year, after the boxer was handed a 22-month suspension by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for three whereabouts failures within a year.

The 2022 World Championship bronze-medallist failed to submit her whereabouts for the period between April 2022 and March 2023, as mandated by WADA regulations.

The BFI was also to blame for this unprecedented embarrassment given that federation is duly notified of such a lapse by the international body.

The federation ought to have intervened to ensure that the athlete submitted the required details on time.

As a result, India had to fight afresh for qualification in the women's 57kg category, the spot ultimately going to Jaismine Lamboria in the final Olympic Qualifiers.

There were wholesale changes for this event with former Asian Games gold-medallist Amit Panghal replacing Deepak Bhoria in the 51kg category.

Eventually Panghal and Nishant made the cut for the quadrennial spectacle along with Jaismine, adding to the three quotas won by Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg) and Lovlina (75kg) last year.

In all, six boxers qualified for Paris, a decline from the five men and four woman who represented India in the 2021 Tokyo Games.

Barren Olympics, Nishant's heartbreak

Heading into the big event on the back of two consecutive World Championship titles, Zareen was hailed as one of India's strongest medal contenders.

However, in the fiercely competitive 50kg category, the Telangana boxer was completely outclassed by China's Wu Yu in a brutally one-sided bout.

Zareen, unable to match the relentless pace of her opponent, later said that she had "not eaten for the last two days to maintain weight" and felt weak.

A win away from a second consecutive Olympic medal, Lovlina too went down to a Chinese boxer. The Tokyo Games bronze winner couldn't get past familiar foe Li Qian.

For Panghal, who was handed a fairly easy draw, it was deja vu as he made yet another pre-quarterfinal exit from the Olympics.

The most heartbreaking loss, however, was endured by Nishant. The 23-year-old was defeated 1-4 by Mexico's Marco Verde Alvarez in the 71kg quarterfinal, despite appearing to dominate the bout.

This outcome reignited the fierce debate and outrage over judging.

The devastating result denied Nishant, the 2023 world championship bronze-medallist, a podium finish in his debut games as the Indian boxing contingent returned empty-handed from Paris.

The sport has been dormant ever since. The boxers haven't competed in any tournament with the BFI deciding against sending a team for the Asian Championships.

India joins World Boxing

With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) threatening to leave boxing out of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if national federations continued to align themselves with the suspended International Boxing Association (IBA), India joined the breakaway World Boxing (WB).

However, the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) voted against leaving the IBA to join the rival association.

But BFI reaffirmed its support in WB, which also has the backing of the IOC, by successfully bidding for the hosting rights of the World Boxing Cup Finals next year.

The sport's future though remains shrouded in uncertainty and it remains to be seen whether it can manage to hold its place in the Olympics.