What’s the story?
In a much-needed development, the Indian women's boxing contingent got their first ever foreign coach in Frenchman Stephane Cottalorda. Cottalorda was appointed as the coach for the elite women's boxing contingent on Wednesday.
According to Indian Express, India’s current women’s chief coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu was quoted as saying, “I welcome this move. Women boxers would be training with a foreigner for the first time and I hope it will get good results for Indian boxing.”
In case you did not know...
The 41-year-old veteran French boxer is an AIBA three-star coach and has trained the youth and junior French women boxers since 2014. He is also a certified coach in the AIBA Pro-Boxing and the World Series of Boxing events.
The heart of the matter
Member of the European Boxing Confederation’s coaches commission, Cottalorda’s current contract runs until December 2018. During his one and a half year’s stint, the Frenchman will take responsibility of the team and will guide them at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
Apart from Cottalorda, Italian boxer Raffaele Bergamasco has been appointed to coach the youth women boxers. An AIBA three-star coach, Bergamasco’s appointment lasts until December 2020. Men’s coach Santiago Nieva has also been handed a contract till December 2020. G Manoharan will act as the chief coach for youth male boxers.
This is the first time Indian women’s boxing has witnessed the signing of three foreign coaches simultaneously.
What’s next
The Indian eves face their first big assignment in the upcoming Asian Championships to be held in Vietnam in November. They are currently training in the National Boxing Academy in Rohtak.
The youth women’s boxing team is scheduled to compete in the upcoming World Championships to be hosted by India in Guwahati.
Author’s take
Taking into account the present sports scenario in the country, it is of paramount importance to have adequate coaches to produce results consistently. These signings will prove extremely significant as the coaches would bring along new techniques and skill set to the camp and help improve the standard of the game.
