CWG medallists M Suranjoy Singh and L Devendro Singh named coaches of men’s boxing team ahead of World Championships
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has roped in Commonwealth Games medallists L Devendro Singh and M Suranjoy Singh as coaches for the men’s team. The duo, whose brilliant career ended prematurely due to injuries, will be part of the Belgrade-bound Indian contingent for the world championships.
Suranjoy, 35, and Devendro, 29, are among the 14 coaches that have been shortlisted for the national camp in Patiala. The preparatory camp for the World Boxing Championships, scheduled to take place from October 24, will begin this week.
Other prominent names on the coaching staff include head coach Narender Rana, former junior coach M S Dhaka, seasoned boxer Dharmendra Yadav, and former boxers Diwakar Prasad and Torak Kharpran, among others.
All you need to know about men’s boxing team’s new coaches
Suranjoy is the 2010 CWG champion, while Devendro is the 2014 CWG silver medalist.
Also Read: Men’s World Boxing Championships: Shiva Thapa to lead India’s campaign
The Boxing Federation of India had appointed Suranjoy as assistant coach in 2017 too, but he had to pull out due to personal reasons.
"The last time I was named, there were family problems, abhi sab theek han, join kar lenge (now everything is fine, I'm joining the team). The world championship is going to be a challenging assignment given that the weight categories have been rejigged but we are up for it, and hopefully we can get some good results," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
Devendro finished his coaching diploma from Patiala’s National Institute of Sports in 2020. Both boxer-turned-coaches, Devendro and Suranjoy, are part of the Services Sports Control Board. SSCB dominated the men’s national championships held last month, winning eight gold medals.
Also Read: AIBA investigation finds match-fixing of boxing bouts at 2016 Rio Olympics
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) had earlier decided to replace the men's chief coach, C A Kuttappa, with the Army Sports Institute's Narender Rana.
This will be the first major boxing competition since the Tokyo Olympics and will have over 600 boxers competing in 13 new weight categories.
Also read: World Boxing Championships: Fans to make a return to marquee event