State govt''s apathy towards boxing

Nagpur,Oct 3

Boxing is considered as one of the medal winning games for India in Olympics. However the state government''s apathy towards this game can be gauged from the fact that there are only two qualified government coaches in 36 districts of Maharashtra.

As far as Nagpur division is concerned it has six districts but barring Chandrapur (Vijay Dhoble) there are no state government''s coach for long time. In Nagpur district Arun Bute has retired three months back and since then the post is vacant.

Amravati division which has four districts has the qualified coach (Satish Bhat) at Akola''s Krida Prabodhini. It means barring two districts, rest of the districts in Maharashtra are sans government qualified coaches. As far as infrastructure (boxing ring) is concerned it is available at only 16 places in Maharashtra. In Nagpur division Nagpur, Chandrapur, Wardha and Gadchiroli district have the facility of boxing ring whereas Bhandara and Gondia lack it. In Vidarbha, Chandrapur and Akola districts fall in ''A'' grade centres fulfilling the criteria of boxers, ring, centre and coach. Nagpur, Gadchiroli and Wardha are in ''B'' category whereas the scenario is not encouraging in Gondia, Washim and Yavatmal districts which have neither boxers or ring, centres and coaches. Interestingly state capital Mumbai falls in ''D'' category having only boxers and no ring, centre and coaches

Even after this lackadaisical approach of the state government, the Maharashtra boxers are performing consistently well as national or international-level, thanks to the efforts of state boxing association. City''s Alfiya Pathan won the medal for India in Asian Junior Boxing Championship. Apart from her Akash Gorkha, Ananta Chopade, Bhavesh Kattimani, Janhavi Churi, Sakshi Jagdale, Simran Verma and Sharvari Kalyankar have won the medals for India in various international championships.

The deputy director of sports (Nagpur division) Avinash Pund has agreed that majority of Maharashtra districts lack coaches. “ It has happened as the state government has stopped the new appointments. Now the government has given the rights to the deputy director of sports to appoint the coaches on remuneration basis in such player where boxing is strong.

Each dist should have

govt coaches: Tiwari

In this regard when contacted general secretary of Maharashtra Boxing Association Dr Rakesh Tiwari he said, " I have already written a letter to the sports department of the state government to appoint NIS qualified government coaches in each district of Maharashtra. It will help the boxers to improve their performance and win more and more medals for India". Dr Tiwari also said it is only because of the efforts of state association, that Maharashtra boxers are performing consistently at national and international-level. Dr Tiwari said in Nagpur district former government coach Ganesh Purohit has been imparting the coaching to the boxers even after his retirement.