Exclusive: It is time to graduate to being best in the world, says Bernard Dunne | Boxing News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Indian boxing is on an unprecedented high. India topped the medal charts with four gold at the women’s world championship in New Delhi, and recorded its best-ever performance with three medals at the men’s world championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
A lot of behind-the-scenes work has been put in by Bernard Dunne, the High Performance Director (HPD) of Indian boxing, who took charge in October last year. TOI spoke with the legendary Irish boxer-turned-coach.
Excerpts…
After you took over as HPD, the men’s and women’s teams have performed at a higher level. It seems like you have waved a magic wand…
I’m not sure that you would call it a magic wand because there is no quick fix. We created clarity around what we’re trying to achieve in terms of preparations, in terms of getting the right processes in place, how we prepare ourselves to go and compete on the international stage. So we have the processes in place, and real planning behind what to do. All that is asked of them (boxers) is to be able to implement the task that we have set out for. India is very fortunate to have good athletes who are hungry for success. As the HPD it’s my job to help them amplify their skills and realize what their strengths are. It’s time to graduate from being world class to the best in the world. This is just a start for Indian boxing and there’s so much more to come.
The selection trials have been replaced with an evaluation process. What was the logic behind this?
The logic is to bring in “consistency”. We’re looking at a consistent level of performance, and not just one moment. When you want to pick the best people, you need to challenge them day in, day out.
Can you throw more light on the new evaluation process? What are its parameters? How is the final judgment made?
It’s not just one moment, one magic moment in time. Instead, we are evaluating day in day out… in the gym, in terms of behaviour, attitude, sparring sessions, in communication and interactions with each other as athletes. Although this is an individual sport, what we encourage is a team environment. How you interact with your support staff, how you interact with your coaches, we want to make sure that everybody is given an equal opportunity and that it’s not just one moment that goes into identifying the best boxers. It is just not about one boxing match or sparring session; rather it’s done through a number of weeks, where athletes are demonstrating on a daily basis that they are the right person to represent the country. After the particular competition is done, everything resets. You have to restart. The top boxers will continue to rise. The challenge to perform all of a sudden becomes a daily routine. So, when one athlete raises the level, the next has to run, and after a period of time everyone is on a similar level.
Many experts, former boxers and current boxers feel this could lead to favouritism…
Absolutely not! There is no favouritism because my job depends on results. So why would any one of us pick the second-best or third-best athlete? I’m unbiased… I have come to India with a very clear and unbiased view. I’m not linked to any state, I’m not linked to any job, and I’m not into any service. My sole purpose is to make sure Indian boxing gets better. The thing is one will never be able to please everybody. What I’ve got to do, and in all good faith, is to believe what’s the best for India.
When you took charge what was lacking in Indian boxers?
There wasn’t anything really drastic that was missing. It is about enhancing the skills that are already there. For me, it’s about identifying what the athletes are trying to work on, and what they are trying to implement. Then how best can I assist them in doing the same. My job is to amplify their skills.
What are the technical corrections that you have brought about in this time period?
We have done different technical corrections for each athlete. No athlete is the same, and it’s our job to adapt and help them implement technical skills that are best suited to them. We identify those for each individual athlete. Then we create a plan based on who the opposition may be, what skills we possess, and what is going to work against a particular opposition. Again, it comes down to a lot of analysis, understanding what we’re trying to achieve in terms of our technical status. Then create a very clear plan around that.
You have trained the likes of Kellie Harrington, Amy Broadhurst and Lisa O’ Rourke and made them world and Olympic champions. What’s your vision for Indian boxers?
For me, it is about building trust. I can see a huge change in attitude of our athletes and our support staff. They feel they can be open and trust me as a leader. Now, the question is what can we achieve? Can we achieve Olympic gold medals? Of course, we can. But it’s not going to be easy. Even qualifying for the Olympic Games is an amazing achievement for every athlete. We are not going to change a whole lot of things over the coming 12 to 18 months prior to the Paris Games, but there will be small changes and they make all the difference at the highest level.
What is your target for the Asian Games?
The Asian Games will be the first qualifying event for the Olympics, and we have to perform. Once we perform to the best of our abilities, we will qualify multiple boxers for the Olympics. I’ve no doubt about that. I believe any of our boxers who qualify for the Olympics will become genuine medal hopes. The hardest part is qualifying with all that pressure built up.
In India, the general mass is obsessed with medals, especially Olympic medals. What’s your take on this narrative?
We try to normalize that pressure, the stress, that feeling of expectations from the public and from the media. Look at the last two major competitions, we finished as the number one team in the world with the women’s team and created history with the men’s team. I only ask my wards to perform to the best of their abilities; then the medals are taken care of.