Outgoing high-performance director Santiago Nieva on the highs and lows of his India boxing stint | Sports News,The Indian Express
'If there is a boxer who has proven himself on the international level through exposure with coaches too investing in him, why put extra burden of trials on him,' the Swede says.
Post the selection trials for the Indian men’s team for the Commonwealth Games, chief high-performance director Santiago Nieva was an emotional man. As the Swede completes his tenure before joining Australia as their head coach, he talks about various facets of Indian boxing, his policy of having no trials, the disappointments at the Tokyo Olympics and what lies ahead for Indian boxing.
Q. You joined the team in April 2017 and are leaving now after a five-year stint. What has been the main difference between then and now?
A. The main difference has been the high-performance structure that I tried to put in place. We needed good tactical and technical training and worked around that. There was much emphasis on strength and endurance earlier and I had to put the focus on power and tactics too.
Tactically speaking, our boxers were going head-hunting in the ring rather than aiming for more variations. We had to work on things like avoiding clinching the opponent or holding, and knowing how to come out of those situations.
Once it got into their heads, it became easier to train. The thing about top boxing nations like Russia, Cuba and Kazakhstan is that they start tactically right from the grassroots. A boxer at the age of say 16-17 has good ring IQ. And I tried to inculcate that.
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