Meet the 'friends' of Indian pugilists

NEW DELHI: Hidden behind the rise of the Indian boxers is the contribution of a hard-at-work support staff that seldom gets noticed by those outside this closed circle. Chief coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu and his Cuban colleague BI Fernandez are the well-known coaches but they would get nowhere without the help of their assistants -- Jaidev Bisht, CA Kuttappa and Ramanand.
All three of them are former competitors and "friends" in whom the boxers confide, share their most innate fears and seek out finer points of their craft. The 47-year-old Dronacharya awardee Bisht will be accompanying the squad. In addition, they are also carrying two sparring partners in Sunil (52kg) and Kulpeep (75 kg) for their final training camp, with decision pending whether they should stay on for the Games too.
"Youngsters like Shiva, Sumit, Vikas and Devendro are a fearless lot because they have nothing to lose as such and this mindset works to their advantage. I am sure this time we will get more medals and hopefully better-coloured ones," said Bisht. Included in the support staff are the doctor and physio duo of Abhishek Chowdhery and Harisankara Varma Raja. The physiology and sports medicine experts have been with the Indian National squad since the Asian Games two years ago and have earned the boxers' confidence.
"Maintaining the peak is difficult business," explained Raja on Thursday. "A boxer can maintain it for three weeks at the most and our training right now is focused on maintaining just that. Hence the load is at the minimum , while speed is maximum. Even if we train for a half-hour , a boxer will go through the entire regimen in the said time. It is replicating a bout scenario," he added.