India's chief women's boxing coach Bhaskar Bhatt quits his post ahead of Hangzhou Asian Games 

With nearly three months to go for the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games in September, India’s chief women's boxing coach Bhaskar Bhatt has quit his position.

A disagreement with Bernard Dunne, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) high performance director, is one of the reasons for Bhatt to resign, say sources within the organization.

The BFI appointed Dunne, an Irish boxing expert last year, to oversee the national coaching camps in the build-up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Dunne had been away to Ireland for personal work since April and recently joined the camp.

“He (Dunne) had gone home for personal work but was virtually attending all the meetings of the BFI,” a senior official of BFI told Sportskeeda over the phone.

The national women’s boxing camp to prepare for the Asian Games has been in progress at Patiala’s National Institute of Sports (NIS) since April. Bhatt quit his job when the regular assessment of the boxers attending the camp started. The Asian Games in China will be the first Paris Olympic Games qualification tournament.

Indian women boxers have been doing well in recent times

Dunne has introduced regular assessments, including for attendance and fitness in the national camp, to evaluate the progress of the athletes.

According to sources, Bhatt was overseeing the national women’s camp but resigned last week. He has joined his parent department — Sports Authority of India (SAI) — at Rohtak’s National Centre of Excellence in boxing. He wasn’t available for comments.

Bhatt was appointed head of the elite women’s squad in November 2021. The national team gave a good account of themselves at the 2023 International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Boxing Championship held in March.

Nitu (48kg), Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), and Saweety Boora (81kg) won gold medals in their respective weight categories.