COVID-19 impact: BFI starts online coaching for Olympic-bound boxers

India's top boxer MC Mary Kom

Their training halted by the coronavirus-forced national lockdown, India's Olympic-bound boxers will be provided online classes by their coaches from Monday to ensure that aspects like mental well-being and nutrition are taken care of. Nine boxers - MC Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohani (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) - have qualified for the Tokyo Games, postponed to 2021 due to the global pandemic which has caused thousands of deaths. In a conference call with these boxers on Sunday, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) President Ajay Singh took stock of their preparations amid a national lockdown till April 14 to fight the pandemic.

"This is a challenging time for all of us and is all the more reason for us to take care of ourselves... stay fit, continue with the exercises as directed by the coaches and try to maintain your weights as much as possible," Singh told the boxers.

"We will tide over this crisis soon and get back to the ring but staying motivated is absolutely necessary," he added. Elaborating on the 45-minute discussion, BFI's Executive Director RK Sacheti told PTI that the areas of concern are diet control and mental health. "They are at their homes right now where diet can go for a toss. So the idea behind these online classes starting tomorrow is to ensure that they are kept aware of their nutritional needs," he said. Sacheti added that India boxing's High Performance Director Santiago Nieva, who is now in Patiala after completing a 14-day self-isolation period in Delhi, will be conducting the classes.

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